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Health dept to take over Bengaluru Covid fight from civic body: Govt
Bengaluru: The Karnataka State Covid Task Force has proposed to hand over Covid management in Bengaluru to the department of health and family welfare – so far handled by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike – announcing major changes in Karnataka’s fight against the pandemic
Bengaluru: The Karnataka State Covid Task Force has proposed to hand over Covid management in Bengaluru to the department of health and family welfare – so far handled by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike – announcing major changes in Karnataka’s fight against the pandemic.
“To make this a reality, certain technical issues need to be studied. A committee will be constituted to look into this and will be asked to submit the study report in the next meeting of the task force,” read a statement from the office of the deputy chief minister and Covid Task Force head, CN Ashwatha Narayan, on Saturday.
The decisions come as Karnataka reported 3,500 Covid-related deaths between May 7 and 13, the highest in a week since the outbreak of the pandemic, an analysis of the health department data shows. The death toll in the second week of May was more than twice that of the first week. The state has reported more than 5,000 deaths this month, of which Bengaluru alone accounts for 2,700.
The state reported 41,664 new cases on Saturday, taking the active caseload to 6,05,494. Bengaluru accounted for 13,402 new infections, taking its active cases to 3,66,791. As many as 349 fatalities were reported across Karnataka, which took the state’s toll to 21,434. Bengaluru’s toll due to Covid-19 jumped to 9,340, with 94 deaths being reported on Saturday, according to the state health department.
The task force also decided not to allow home isolation in rural areas and slums of urban areas. All cases from those places will be admitted to Covid care centres (CCCs). “In rural areas, Covid care centres will be established at public health centre level. Rapid antigen test needs to be done at the doorstep in hot spots. In rural areas, arrangements for isolation and treatment shall be made in places, such as hostels. District commissioners will be entrusted this responsibility,” Narayan told reporters in Bengaluru.
There are 207 community health centres of 30 beds each in the state. All the 30 beds in each of these centres will be converted into oxygenated beds. Out of these, 5 ICU beds and 5 HDU (high dependency unit) beds will be made available. In taluk hospital, 50 ICU beds will be made available. It was also decided to set up 100 ICU beds in district centres where medical colleges do not exist, the statement added.
A 100-bed secondary hospital will be set up in each assembly constituency of Bengaluru and one tertiary care hospital for every 4 constituencies, the task force said.
It was decided that in every district hospital, 100 ICU beds will be made available on a permanent basis. For this, required infrastructure and manpower need to be provided and all district hospitals should have oxygen-generating units. It was also decided that no one will be given the second dose of Covishield vaccine without finishing a mandatory 12 weeks.
“With regard to administering vaccine for 18-44 age group, a new App needs to be developed and this will be interfaced with Cowin App and later the vaccination schedule will be prepared to take into account the availability of vaccines,” read the statement.
Vaccination will be given outside hospitals in places, such as school grounds, and for each bed in government hospitals ₹10 will be given to facilitate timely disposal of waste. The task force has also approved ₹843 crore for calling a global tender for vaccines.
“To study the changes in the genetics of viruses, it was decided to set up genome labs in six places in the state. Four will be from medical colleges and two will be from the health department,” said the statement from the deputy CM’s office.
The government has also approved procurement of medicines and other consumables required for the next 90 days in a phased manner at ₹260 crore.
At present, about 400 cases of Black Fungal are estimated per week and there is a shortage of the required drug. The Centre will be asked to provide 20,000 vials of the drug.
The state will also set up oxygen bottling plants. “These will be set up in nine districts that do not have this facility. Oxygen generators of 200-300 litre per minute will be set up in community health centres. All the beds will be oxygenated in all taluk hospitals. To facilitate this, oxygen generators of 500-600 litre per minute capacity will be set up,” the statement said.
