Expressing anguish over the rapid spread of coronavirus and accusing the government of lacking seriousness, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Bhatti Vikramarka has suggested that the government take over 50% beds in private hospitals for four months and allot them on transparent basis to the patients.
Apart from increased testing, creating more beds will infuse confidence among the people, he said, addressing a press conference here. Government hospitals were not admitting unless they were COVID-19 positive while private hospitals were fleecing the patients. The allocation of those beds should be done online with utmost transparency with a dedicated App giving real time information on the vacancies so that people can easily find and visit the hospital. At the same time, expenditure of the patients from the general ward should be borne by the government itself and those requesting special rooms can be charged with a certain amount.
The solution also lies in creating more beds and offering medical care at a far more lesser cost, he said suggesting that hotels and vacant hostels should be used for isolating those with minor symptoms at a nominal charge of ₹ 1,000 per day, which is affordable to many. Mr. Vikramarka also called for a survey on the lines of Integrated Household Survey to identify the affected in the areas where there were high cases. It should be completed within 3 to 5 days, he said, adding it was possible for the government that surveyed entire households in a single day after Telangana formation.
He said for every 10 lakh population, Andhra Pradesh tested 20,498 people whereas Telangana tested just 3,430 people. This was alarming when the positivity rate in Telangana was at 22% compared to 2.88% in AP while the national average was 7.14 %. “The statistics prove that the Telangana government had utterly failed in dealing with the pandemic,” he said.