Now, Telangana government-run Gandhi Hospital is not the only place for people to undergo treatment for coronavirus. Health Minister Eatala Rajender said that they had permitted major private hospitals to provide treatment for COVID-19 if they had isolation wards and the ability to treat.
Till Wednesday afternoon, suspects and COVID positive patients were admitted only to Gandhi Hospital. Addressing a press conference on the State Medical and Health campus in Koti on Wednesday, he said they took approval from the Central government to make the exception of allowing private hospitals to provide treatment.
βThe suspects need not come to Gandhi Hospital to give samples for tests. Their samples can be collected and sent to the hospital for tests,β Mr Rajender said, adding that the exception was made as there were some people ready to spend money to get treated.
Besides providing beds for isolation of patients, private teaching hospitals had volunteered to provide the treatment, he said.
The phone number β104β is activated which can be used by people to clear any query about the virus. The Health Minister requested the Central government to provide additional H1N1 masks.
Control centre
A Command Control Centre of the Health department with the Health Minister as chairman would start functioning from the Health campus in Koti from Thursday. There would be five committees under it, each with a specific task.
They are Hospital management committee to monitor treatment, reports; Surveillance Committee; Information, Education and Communication (IEC) committee to spread awareness on the virus; Procurement committee for immediate purchase of medical resources; and another committee to provide training.
At a meeting with Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Mr Rajender asked for four expert IAS officers who would head the committees.