Dr. C.N. Ashwathnarayan reviews State COVID War Room management 

Bengaluru: Deputy Chief Minister and State COVID-19 Ministerial Task Force Chairman Dr. C.N. Ashwathnarayan has directed officials to immediately integrate the real time data of the supply of oxygen, anti-viral drug Remdesivir and

bed allocated under Government quota in Private Hospitals to Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust (SAST) portal. 

Speaking to reporters after reviewing the management in the State COVID War Room here yesterday, he said without integrating the above data in the SAST portal, it would not be possible to deliver services in a systematic way. Officers have been instructed to link all the above mentioned data to the portal (http://arogya.karnataka.gov.in/) within 3 days, he said adding that the above data should be displayed in the SAST portal on real time basis. This will enable to know who needs what and to whom the supplied things are reaching on real time basis. Ultimately this would result in streamlining the COVID services management, he noted.

Hospitals and labs have been strictly instructed to provide results of RT- PCR tests within 24 hours of the sample collection. Currently, considering the overall State average, the time taken to provide results has been reduced to 2 days from the earlier 4 to 5 days. But, measures will be taken to further reduce it to give results within 24 hours. The labs which delay giving results are being fined Rs. 150 per case, he said.

At present, there is a demand for about 7,000 beds in Bengaluru City. To put a check on those who get unnecessarily hospitalised, triaging of these bed-seekers will be done in 60  L-1 (includes Maternity Homes, Medical Colleges and covid Care Centres) and L-2 centres (PHCs). After triaging the number of beds, really needed may reduce to around 2,500. Now the Government is providing 1,000 beds apart from the beds reserved in Private Hospitals, Dr. Ashwathnarayan pointed out.

Legal action will be taken against those who try to take advantage of the situation and sell drugs, pulse oximeter, etc., at a higher price. These should not be sold at a higher price than MRP. The public can lodge complaints by calling 112 if they find such incidents, he noted. 

Meanwhile, the Government has decided to procure 2 lakh pulse oximeters and out of this 25,000 will be procured immediately in the first phase.

Political Advisor to the Chief Minister,  Prashanth Prakash, Senior IAS Officers V. Ponnuraj,  Munish Moudgil, Arundhati Chandrashekar, P. Pradeep, Giri Gowda, SAST Portal Executive Director N.T. Abroo and KAS Officer Rajendra Kumara were present at the meeting.