Mysore/Mysuru: Health and Medical Education Minister Dr. K. Sudhakar has ruled out shortage of oxygen and beds for COVID-19 patients in Mysuru district and said the hospitals were equipped to deal with the current crisis. 

Talking to reporters after visiting K.R. Hospital, District Hospital and Trauma Care Centre this morning, he said the issue of additional supply of the medical oxygen has been discussed with the iron and steel industries and they have agreed to divert the oxygen meant for factories to hospitals. 

Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has requested the Centre to provide 1,500 metric tonne oxygen everyday. “I have also appealed to the Centre to provide additional oxygen and we are hopeful that Centre will respond positively for our request,” he added.

 The Minister said “300 tonnes of oxygen was being earmarked for Karnataka. Since cases are increasing, we may need 500 – 600 tonnes of oxygen by this month end and 1,500 tonnes by next month end. CM has appealed to the Centre to provide additional quantity of oxygen. I also requested the Union Government to supply additional oxygen.”

Remdesivir injection

Dr. Sudhakar said as many as one lakh Remdesivir injection was available in the State.  An additional 70,000 vials has come and another 20,000 vials are expected soon. There were 8-10 Remdesivir manufacturing companies in the country and they had stopped manufacturing of the injection in November as the Corona positive cases came down. But with the sudden increase in positive cases across the country, the companies have ramped up production. It will be streamlined at the earliest, he added.

The Minister did not wish to  comment on Congress leaders over the Covid-19 management and it was disgusting to hear such comments when the whole Government machinery was striving hard to meet the Corona challenge.

Lapses were bound to be there when the pandemic of such a big dimension struck the State. Need of the hour was to join hands with the Government to deal with the situation instead of finding fault, he noted.

He said there was shortage of staff at COVID-19 Care Centres but not coordination among officers of various departments. As many as 250 beds in District Hospital has been reserved for Covid patients besides 50 percent of beds in Government and Private Medical Colleges and 50 percent in Private Hospitals. There are 37 Private Hospitals in the district. Instructions have been given to use the services of graduate and post-graduate medical students in treating Corona patients due to postponement of examination. The district administration has been given free hand to recruit Group C and D employees for the CCC. The services of specialists of Jayadeva Hospital would be used in K.R. Hospital and District Hospital, he added.

Co-operation Minister S.T. Somashekar, MLA L.Nagendra, Deputy Commissioner Rohini Sindhuri,  ZP CEO A.M. Yogesh, DHO Dr. T. Amarnath, MMC&RI Dean & Director Dr. C.P. Nanjaraj and others were present.