Fall in Corona positive cases, deaths; 50 percent beds for non-COVID cases in ESI Hospital

Mysore/Mysuru: Thanks to steady decline in Corona positive cases and casualties, the Mysuru District Administration has decided to close some of the Covid Care Centres (CCCs) started by the State Government four to five months ago when the cases had reached its peak in city and district.

The CCCs to be closed down are: Farooqia D.Ed Training Centre, Andalus English Medium School and the Ayush Department’s COVID Care Centre in KSOU premises.

Besides, up to 50 per cent of beds in Employees State Insurance Hospital (ESI) off KRS Road, will be utilised to treat non-COVID patients. In fact, there had been demand from the ESI authorities to spare the beds for the sake of non-COVID patients. However, 50 per cent of beds in Old Block will be retained by the District Administration as a precautionary measure.

The Covid Care Centres that would continue to function are: K.R. Hospital, District COVID Hospital, Trauma Care Centre and the Centre at KSOU Academic Bhavan near Mandakalli. Whereas Beedi Workers Hospital and BSNL’s RTTC building in Kuvempunagar are ready with sufficient number of beds, ventilators and oxygenated beds and they can be utilised any time. The staff in the CCCs will be kept as standby and deployed in case of emergency, according to Dr. Mohammed Shiraz Ahmed, District Tuberculosis Officer (DTO) and in-charge of COVID-19 Testing and Reporting of cases.

According to him, some of the existing CCCs have hardly 5-6 Corona positive patients and they will be shifted to other nearby centres. Since the demand for beds has come down, thanks to good recovery rate, the District Administration felt no need to run them any longer as the staff has outnumbered patients.

In the last 10-15 days, the number of patients from nearby taluks has almost stopped due to availability of oxygenated beds in all Taluk Hospitals. Hunsur Taluk Hospital will be having 50 oxygenated beds from tomorrow. Only serious patients are brought to Mysuru for treatment. This has naturally reduced the burden on the State Govt.-run CCCs, he said adding that Mysuru District is fully geared up to meet any medical emergency in the coming months.

Free testing for Mall staff, Market traders

Dr.Siraj said it has been decided to hold free testing camps for the employees of three shopping malls and also traders of Devaraja, Mandi and Vani Vilasa Markets. Around 2,000 employees work in three shopping malls — Forum, BM Habitat and Mall of Mysore — and they will be subjected to undergo RT-PCR testing. Since thousands of people are expected to flock the market ahead of Deepavali festival, the Health Department felt it necessary to test the Mall staff in the interest of everyone.

With regard to Market traders, the MCC had held free testing before Gowri-Ganesha festival and another round of testing was required due to coming Deepavali festival. Already, a camp has been set up near Dufferin Clock Tower (Chikkagadiyara) and traders will be asked to avail free testing once again. Those who refuse to undergo testing will not be allowed to do business inside the Market, he said.

Good response

The DTO said there has been lot of demand from the factory managements to hold free testing camps in their premises for the sake of workers. In last two days, the Health Department has collected 1,100 samples and results are expected this evening.

According to an estimate, there are 50,000 persons working in factories. Department of Factories has come forward to give one month schedule to Health Department to test all workers. Enquiries have come from BEML and JK Tyre to conduct free testing. The Health Department is planning to test those above 50 years with morbidity on priority.  Even the staff of Maharani’s and Maharaja’s Colleges, and a Private College, have undergone free testing recently, he noted.