Hospitals must reserve 50 per cent beds for Covid patients: Velampalli Srinivas

Vijayawada: Stating that the second wave of Covid is creating many problems, Endowments Minister Velampalli Srinivas on Tuesday said all hospitals in the district must reserve 50 per cent beds for the Covid patients.

He asked the hospitals to give priority to Covid patients and giving treatment as the Covid cases are increasing in the district and the state. Velampalli participated in a review meeting with the district officials on Covid cases at the Collector's camp office.

Addressing on the occasion, the Endowments Minister instructed the hospitals to give daily reports on how many Covid patients were admitted, how many Covid patients were treated under Arogyasri scheme. He asked the Health department officials and the doctors to suggest the patients for home isolation if the patients have mild virus. He asked the hospitals to maintain sufficient stocks of medicine.

Stating that some private hospitals are fleecing the Covid patients, Central MLA Malladi Vishnu said the hospitals must display the fee and other charges they collect for Covid services. He said there are allegations that some hospitals are treating the patients under Arogyasri scheme and also collecting fee from them. He praised the Krishna district administration for taking action against two hospitals for fleecing the Covid patients.

District Collector Md Imtiaz said the district administration has issued clear orders on implementation of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) by shopping malls, super markets, cinema halls and other public places to contain the Covid cases in the district.

He said the people can use 104 services to get information of Covid cases. He explained the measures taken by the district administration to treat the Covid patients in the hospitals and other services provided. He said 94 per cent vaccination was completed for the frontline warriors in the district.

Joint Collectors K Madhavi Latha and L Siva sankar, VMC Commissioner Prasanna Venkatesh, DCP Harshavardhan Raju, District Medical and Health officer Dr M Suhasini, doctors from the government and other hospitals attended the review meeting.