Kothagudem: SCCL spends Rs 71 crore to combat Covid

Kothagudem: The Company Chairman and Managing Director N Sridhar gave details regarding the steps taken to prevent the Covid and medical aid for the SCCL employees and their families.

Singareni has taken up many measures by giving more importance to the lives of the employees and their family members giving them more confidence by conducting more than 1,27,000 rapid antigen & RT PCR tests, vaccination for 27,000 persons (employees / Rtd employees and their family members), special wards with over 1,400 beds, emergency medical services at Hyderabad in a number of empanelled hospitals, procurement of emergency medicines, purchase of oxygen cylinders, the establishment of oxygen plants at 5 places etc.

Nearly 1,25,200 Rapid Test Kits purchased and tests undertaken at a cost of Rs. 3.16 crore.. With a plan to prevent corona, Singareni has conducted a maximum number of tests, isolated the people who had been affected with corona and provided medical treatment thus preventing this disease from spreading to others. Till now 99,406 people have been tested.

Presently, there are 2,268 Covid cases. A total of 12,308 people tested positive for corona in Singareni till now. Singareni provided them treatment at special corona wards, isolation centres and home isolations.

Presently 2,267 persons are under treatment. The total workers of Singareni are 44,000 and out of this only 783 employees are carona positive and are being treated. In the balance of active cases, 1,211 are workers' families and 364 are contract workers.

Corporate Medical Treatment

Till date, the management has spent about Rs 38 crore on providing specialized medical services to 867 emergency cases shifted to corporate hospitals in Hyderabad. Of the active cases in Singareni, 42 are being treated at corporate hospitals in Hyderabad for serious cases. The company has set up separate Covid wards at a cost of Rs. 43 lakhs. Adding to the 692 beds at Singareni, another 736 beds have been added and the management is providing medical services at special wards and quarantine centres.

Singareni provided quarantine kits containing 18 varieties of things like medicines, pulse oxymeter s etc. for the people undergoing treatment at quarantine centres. These kits were purchased by spending Rs. 80 lakhs and are being given to patients at quarantine centres and home isolations. Rs 5.55 crores for medicines and injections: Injections like Remdesivir, Favipiravir tablets and other medicines which are required for the hospitals across Singareni were purchased at a cost of Rs 5.55 crores.

Apart from the oxygen cylinders already available another 370 oxygen cylinders were purchased at a cost of Rs. 1.28 crores and were sent to the hospitals. Thus the management ensured that there is no shortage of oxygen to corona patients at the hospitals.

Set up of oxygen plants

As an advanced safety measure oxygen plants are being under setting up at 5 places at a cost of Rs. 3.60 crores. 4 numbers of 12 M3/hr and one number of 45 M3/hr are being set up at SCCL Main and Area Hospitals. Company had paid ex gratia of Rs. 15 lakhs each to people who have died due to Covid-19. Till now Singareni has spent about Rs. 71 crores for the prevention of Covid, setting an example for other public sector organisations.