As the State crosses the one-lakh mark in cumulative case burden and braces for a steeper rise in daily case numbers, the public health system, including all COVID first-line treatment centres (FLTCs) and COVID hospitals, are well-prepared to meet any exigency, Health Minister K.K. Shylaja said.
In both public and private sectors, 41,391 hospital beds have been readied in 322 centres, of which, 21,318 beds are currently vacant. This includes 2,883 beds in 74 private hospitals.
Of the total of 871 ICU beds at government hospitals, 624 are vacant. Of the 532 COVID ventilators in public sector, 519 are vacant. At private hospitals, of the 6,079 ICU beds, 6,030 are vacant. Private sector has 1,579 ventilators, of which 1,568 are vacant. This apart, in two stages, in 800 FLTCs, another 50,000 beds would be readied, Ms. Shylaja said in a statement here.
Mortality rate down
Ms. Shylaja said that despite the surge in cases in the third phase of the pandemic, Kerala had successfully kept the mortality rate down to 0.4 %.
As the epidemic curve in the State was poised to hit the peak in the coming weeks, the public should maintain extreme vigil to ensure that there were minimum chances of them getting infected. All safety precautions, especially wearing masks and physical distancing, should be maintained strictly so that one is protected from contracting the infection.
She said hospital beds were likely to fall short if the exponential increase in cases, as predicted, occurred. Hence minimising one’s exposure to potential infection was important.