E-Paper
Telangana resumes vaccination after 10 days
Hyderabad: The Covid-19 vaccination process in all Telangana government hospitals, which was kept in abeyance for the last 10 days due to shortage of stocks, resumed on Tuesday following instructions from chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao
Hyderabad: The Covid-19 vaccination process in all Telangana government hospitals, which was kept in abeyance for the last 10 days due to shortage of stocks, resumed on Tuesday following instructions from chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
While medical and health department authorities have not disclosed how much stock of vaccine was available with the state, they said the vaccination programme of the state government was confined to only those who had taken the first dose.
The department, however, announced that designated private hospitals or Private Covid Vaccination Centres (PCVCs) in the state could start administering the jabs to individuals above 18 years from Tuesday.
The government also permitted private hospitals to conduct vaccination drives at workplaces (on request made by institutions/companies/gated companies etc) by registering on the CoWIN portal and following Covid vaccination guidelines.
At a review meeting held on Monday night, the chief minister also instructed state finance minister T Harish Rao and health officials to identify super-spreaders like RTC (Road Transportation Corporation) staff, cab drivers and delivery boys and work out modalities to conduct a special vaccination drive for them. The guidelines could be prepared accordingly, he said.
KCR, as the chief minister is known, also asked health department authorities to study the Delhi and Maharashtra models which were successful in containing the spread of Covid-19 in the second wave.
“We have to learn from the good experiences of other states. Reports suggest that the Delhi government is successfully curtailing the spread of Covid-19. Maharashtra also achieved good results in this regard. Find out what are the measures and action plan that they have taken,” the chief minister told officials.
KCR suggested that a medical team from Telangana visit Delhi to examine the model adopted there to contain the virus and study the situation. “So far, we are getting good results in reducing the percentage of positive cases in Telangana. But we have to work to reduce its percentage further,” he said.
The chief minister instructed that officials implement a two-pronged strategy of continuing the fever survey and distributing medical kits, while stepping up the number of tests for Covid-19. All those coming to the Primary Health Centres for Covid testing should be tested without fail, he said.
KCR also asked officials to take steps to increase the bed strength in government hospitals to treat black fungus cases. The department officials told him that at present, 150 beds were allotted for black fungus patients in Gandhi Hospital and 250 beds in ENT Hospital, Hyderabad. Another 200 beds would be earmarked in Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital.
The chief minister directed that the bed strength be increased to at least 1,500 — 1,100 in Hyderabad and 400 in districts. Besides, all the medicines used in the treatment of black fungus should be made available and orders be placed to that effect, he said.
Approximately 400 cases of black fungus have been reported in Telangana so far.
