Visakhapatnam: More Oxygen beds soon to tackle third wave
More Oxygen beds soon to tackle third wave( For representation purpose only)
Visakhapatnam: In a step to strengthen its preparedness to face the third wave of the pandemic, the district administration is all set to ramp up the number of oxygen beds in the hospitals across Visakhapatnam.
The idea is to increase the capacity of oxygen beds to 100 percent from the current status which is hovering between 20 and 30 percent.
While the Covid-designated hospitals continue to be operational as before, the capacity building process will see 14 hospitals added to the existing list, officials share with The Hans India.
As most hospitals dedicate only a part of their bed capacity with oxygen supply for Covid-19 patients, the district administration intends to convert all the beds into oxygen beds as a part of its contingency plan in order to tackle emergency situations for the impending third wave. The capacity building process applies to private teaching hospitals such as GITAM, NRI and Gayatri Vidya Parishad Institute of Healthcare and Medical Technology along with eight government teaching hospitals as well.
Sharing statistics, an official says, "At King George Hospital alone, there are about 400 oxygen beds at CSR block and 400 more beds in other two blocks. The plan is to add 400 extra to KGH."
Currently, six government hospitals and over 60 private and teaching hospitals, Andhra Pradesh Vaidya Vidhana Parishad allot 20-30 percent of oxygen beds each for Covid-19 patients.
This apart, a proposal is made to equip a dozen community health centres with oxygen beds. Also, the focus is on doubling the oxygen beds in two area hospitals from the present count of 50 to 100.
An action plan is getting readied for the purpose. After reviewing with the officials concerned and management, the count of the beds with oxygen supply in government and private hospitals along with teaching institutions will be decided.
Soon, the capacity building exercise will witness as many as 4,500 oxygen beds from 3,000 available currently in both government and private hospitals.