Hyderabad: Government hospitals gear up to tackle Coronavirus cases

Koti: The sudden spike in Corona cases has forced the government hospitals to turn into Covid-19 treatment centres. Due to rapid escalation of the virus cases in Telangana, all major government hospitals are being turned into Covid-19 hospitals again. These hospitals were on a regular path after a slowdown in positive cases during the last six months. The government plans to increase the number of beds in hospitals noticing an upswing of the virus cases.

Apart from the dedicated Covid 19 hospital, Telangana Institute of Medical Science (TIMS), more beds and isolation wards are being set up in Gandhi Medical College (GMC), King Koti Hospitals to accommodate people who have tested positive. The GMC had started in and outpatient services for regular patients in October last year. Its beds with other infrastructure were being used for normal purposes as the positive cases were down. The equipment has now been shifted to the Covid wards.

According to the health department officials, the State has a capacity to accommodate a total of 10,000 patients in all government hospitals. Speaking about the bed capacity in Telangana, Director Public Health G Srinivas Rao said only 800 beds were occupied by infected patients in different hospitals across the State. As more than 9,000 beds were vacant, people need not worry. He added that arrangements were being made to facilitate treatment of people at TIMS with 1,200 beds, with ventilators available in ICUs. While 350 beds were arranged in King Koti Hospital. In addition, the GMC has prepared 300 beds with ventilators; more beds would be increased if necessary.

Dr Rao said the department was fully prepared to deal with the second wave of Coronavirus and the infrastructure was ready to treat people. Not only in Hyderabad, but also hospitals and health centres in districts can facilitate treatment of patients, he stated. He appealed to the public to go for Covid-19 test without hesitation to stay safe. He suggested to them to avail of the facilities provided by the government, instead of paying huge amounts in private hospitals.