CHENNAI: Within two weeks, Greater Chennai Corporation will add around 4,000 beds for treating mildly symptomatic patients who are sent to Covid care centres (CCC). This will take the total number of beds at such care centres across the city to around 17,500. Of the available beds, only around 3,500 are occupied till date.
Corporation commissioner G Prakash on Tuesday inspected unoccupied Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) buildings in Atthipattu, Vanagaram which falls in Ambattur (zone 7). There are six towers which have a total of 1,450 two bedroom-hall flats. Around half of these will be made ready for patient intake within a week. The rest will be ready in another week, Prakash said.
“In every such home, we can accommodate 4-5 cots,” Prakash said at a press interaction.
Of these, around 450 will be allotted to doctors, nurses, para medical staff, civic body engineers and TN Electricity Board employees. They will be staying there to take care of patients and utilities. It will function like a hospital, he added.
The corporation has made 17,500 beds available across 55 facilities across the city including Chennai Trade Centre, private and government colleges and hostels as well as unoccupied Tamil Nadu housing board and slum clearance board tenements.
“For the past 45 days there has not been any outburst of cases from any particular area in Chennai. But we are keeping additional facilities ready,” he said.
At present, around 2.35 lakh swab samples collected from people in the corporation limits have been tested for Covid-19, Prakash said. At least 85% of them are from government labs.
Responding to a question from a reporter about restaurants selling meat dishes despite a ban on slaughter houses, Prakash said they must be using it from their freezers. “We have already intimated the food safety department to ensure the quality of meat used in such restaurants,” he said. The meat should be scientifically stored, he added.
Prakash said that medical camps conducted across the city have helped them identify at least 5,400 Covid-19 cases while door-to-door surveys have helped them identify 8,000 cases.
The commissioner also said that seven lakh people have already been given the Rs 1,000 cash bonus by the TN government and the process will be over within three days.
Corporation commissioner G Prakash on Tuesday inspected unoccupied Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) buildings in Atthipattu, Vanagaram which falls in Ambattur (zone 7). There are six towers which have a total of 1,450 two bedroom-hall flats. Around half of these will be made ready for patient intake within a week. The rest will be ready in another week, Prakash said.
“In every such home, we can accommodate 4-5 cots,” Prakash said at a press interaction.
Of these, around 450 will be allotted to doctors, nurses, para medical staff, civic body engineers and TN Electricity Board employees. They will be staying there to take care of patients and utilities. It will function like a hospital, he added.
The corporation has made 17,500 beds available across 55 facilities across the city including Chennai Trade Centre, private and government colleges and hostels as well as unoccupied Tamil Nadu housing board and slum clearance board tenements.
“For the past 45 days there has not been any outburst of cases from any particular area in Chennai. But we are keeping additional facilities ready,” he said.
At present, around 2.35 lakh swab samples collected from people in the corporation limits have been tested for Covid-19, Prakash said. At least 85% of them are from government labs.
Responding to a question from a reporter about restaurants selling meat dishes despite a ban on slaughter houses, Prakash said they must be using it from their freezers. “We have already intimated the food safety department to ensure the quality of meat used in such restaurants,” he said. The meat should be scientifically stored, he added.
Prakash said that medical camps conducted across the city have helped them identify at least 5,400 Covid-19 cases while door-to-door surveys have helped them identify 8,000 cases.
The commissioner also said that seven lakh people have already been given the Rs 1,000 cash bonus by the TN government and the process will be over within three days.
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