Department of Health and Family Welfare Commissioner, IAS, Pankaj Kumar Pandey on Monday conducted an online meeting with government and private hospitals in Bengaluru to ensure that beds are immediately provided to the patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARIs) without a confirmatory COVID test.
According to an official release, the hospitals empanelled with the Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust will be instructed to reserve ICU beds according to fixed targets, and add beds where necessary.
The Commissioner also issued a circular that stated that patients with SARI will be transferred to aCOVID hospital and be admitted as a potential COVID case.
The patients will undergo COVID testing, and in the case of a positive test result, he/she will be transferred from isolation to the COVID block of the hospital. If the test is negative, the persons will be shifted from the isolation ward to the non-COVID block.
To prevent hospitals from turning away a person with SARI and without a COVID test, the Additional Chief Secretary held a meeting at which it was decided that 15 hospitals (5 government and 10 private) will be identified and will admit such patients and treat them as per their symptoms. They will reserve 143 beds in total, including beds with oxygen support, and beds in the ICU with and without ventilators.
( With inputs from ANI )