State to add another 20,000 oxygenated beds: Dy.CM 

Bengaluru: The State Government has decided to add another 20,000 oxygenated beds following Supreme Court allotting 1200 metric tons of oxygen to Karnataka,  said Deputy Chief Minister (Dy.CM) and COVID-19 Ministerial Task Force Chairman Dr. C.N.  Ashwathnarayan. Talking to reporters here, he said the State required 20,000 oxygen beds but on urgent basis 10,000 beds will be prepared as early as possible and this is going to answer the shortage of oxygen beds.

Before the outbreak of Corona pandemic,  the State was using only 100 metric tons of oxygen but now it require 950 metric tons. “We have oxygen which is sufficient for the existing oxygen beds. But in the wake of sharp rise in Corona positive patients, there is an urgent need to increase oxygenated beds. Our shortage of oxygen has been met due to intervention by the Apex Court. The oxygen beds will also be kept ready at Covid Care Centres where expert staff will be deployed,” he said.

The Minister said the State has a total of 70,000 beds for Corona patients out of which 35,000 are in Government Hospitals and 35,000 in Private Hospitals.  Out of 70,000 beds, 50,000 beds  have oxygen. In order to address shortage of oxygen beds,  it has been decided to shift 30 percent or 40 percent of patients with mild  symptoms from Government and Private Hospitals to Step Down Hospitals. 

No shortage 

Dr. Ashwathnarayan said there will be no shortage of Remdesivir injection as the State was allotted 39,000 vials of injection till May 9 and another 70,000 vials are expected. In fact,  there may be shortage of injection in next one or two days. The Government of India has allotted an additional 2,60,00 vials to Karnataka which will start coming from Monday. Most probably, around 37,000 vials may be supplied daily. The necessary requirements of all districts will be taken care by the State Government, he added.

Fine for delay in test report

Dr. Ashwathnarayan said  the Government has decided to impose a fine of Rs. 100 to Rs.150 per test in case of delay on the part of Private Laboratories in giving Covid test results within 24 hours.

It is the duty of the Labs to give RT-PCR test results within a day. Till recently covid patients were coming for testing very late and this was delaying even treatment also. Besides, it was causing casualty but this should not happen in future at any cost.

He said till last year, RT-PCR test was done at only one lab in Government sector when covid crisis hit the State. However,  now they have 91 Laboratories in the Government sector and over 150  in Private sector. While the Government Labs are testing around 10,500 samples daily, Private Labs are conducting 70,000 tests. Out of 100 percent, 93 percent tests were of RT-PCR and the remaining were Rapid Antigen Test (RAT).  

The ICMR has given permission for conducting RAT in all Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in the State and RAT kits will be supplied to all PHCs to increase the number of detection.

He said all PHCs have been distributed Covid related medicines in sufficient quantity. All steps had been taken to ensure that there will be no shortage of medicines anywhere. In the next two days, all Primary Health Centres will be supplied with sufficient quantity of medicine and other things. The Government has already issued guidelines for treatment of Covid positive patients in Private  Hospitals and all doctors and staff must follow it, he added.