Covid-19 precaution: Telangana steps up medical infrastructure

Stepping up medical facilities in Telangana in view of coronavirus spread, the state government is in the process of establishing a 1,500-bedded isolation ward at Gachibowli Sports Complex here, Health Minister Etela Rajender said on Saturday.

"Three floors in three days and in the next six days another six floors will be ready. The overall complex will be ready to accommodate patients in another 20 days," he said. As on March 27 the total number Covid-19 positive cases were pegged at 59.

The minister said that the additional medical infrastructure is being created as part of precautionary measures in case of requirement.

The State Government has already declared state-run Gandhi Hospital as full-fledged hospital and another two medical facilities partially for coronavirus treatment.

Rajender had earlier said the state is ready with 10,000 beds in addition to 700 Intensive Care Units (ICU) and 190 ventilator beds to treat coronavirus cases.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday said about 20,000 people are currently in home quarantine or in government facilities under surveillance and all these people are taken care of well.

On the state's preparedness to tackle the killer virus, KCR had said Telangana has already placed an order for 500 new ventilators and some of them have reached.

"Even if 60,000 people (all categories) get affected, we will be ready (to treat)," he had said.

A pool of retired doctors, about 11,000 medicos with MBBS degree and lab technicians is being prepared so that their services will also be utilised if required, he added.

He had said the government will use private laboratories services for coronavirus tests only after the state's resources and facilities at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) here are exhausted.