500-bedded COVID-19 care centre set up in Jammu

A 500-bedded COVID-19 care centre with all necessary facilities has been established and handed over to the health department here, an official spokesperson said.

It will be the first administrative quarantine centre which has been upgraded to a COVID-19 care centre in order to stem the contraction of coronavirus, the official said.

The centre at Yatri Niwas in Bhagwati Nagar boasts of a mess, water coolers and televisions for suspected cases whose results are awaited or those confirmed cases that have been clinically assigned mild or very mild cases.

"This centre is a step towards mitigating the load on other hospitals in the Jammu district," the spokesperson said.

Nodal Officer of the Centre Sudhir Bali said the administration plans to develop COVID-19 care centres with 2000 beds in Jammu to lower the burden on the tertiary care hospitals.

"We need to be prepared in all respects to face any eventuality,” Bali said.

The doctors of the primary health centre already functioning there are available round the clock to face any eventuality and additional staff including doctors and paramedical staff has been deployed from the Directorate Health Services, he said.

He said ambulance service is available at the centre for moving any patient to a tertiary care facility in case of an emergency.

“Doctors are working round the clock and all the protocols are being followed properly to handle all the operations at this Centre,” Nodal Officer from Health Department Osmani Suaidi said.

He said adequate arrangement for sanitisation and fogging is being done at regular intervals and proper security arrangements are in place.

“There are adequate supplies of masks, sanitisers, PPE and other equipment at the quarantine centre. A sanitization tunnel has been placed at the centre so as not to leave anything to chance,” he said. PTI TAS RHL