Minister for Municipal Administration and Rural Development S. P. Velumani on Tuesday inaugurated new facilities at the Government Medical College and ESI Hospital, Coimbatore, the nodal treatment centre for COVID-19 in the region.
Hospital authorities said the Minister inaugurated a 11-kilolitre liquid oxygen cylinder at the hospital that would become beneficial for the treatment of COVID-19 patients with lung involvement.
The hospital had a two-kilolitre liquid oxygen cylinder. With the inauguration of the new unit, the hospital’s capacity increased to 13 kilolitre, said hospital Dean A. Nirmala.
Mr. Velumani inaugurated an 80-bedded ward in the newly renovated old administrative building that would now serve as post COVID-19 care ward. He also inaugurated an RNA extractor for the Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) testing facility which will increase the testing capacity from 500 to 700 samples a day to 1,500 samples a day.
District Collector K. Rajamani, Coimbatore south MLA Amman K. Arjunan, District Revenue Officer D. Ramaduraimurugan, hospital’s Resident Medial Officer K. Kulandaivelu, Medical Superintendent T. Ravikumar and Health Department officials were present.