Varanasi: The pep talk from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on ramping up facilities in Varanasi to combat Covid menace started yielding results as number of beds started increasing in different hospitals and process to buy vital equipment like high flow nasal cannula machines, RNA extractor machines and hiring of data entry operators for feeding lab test reports were initiated on Monday.
The increasing number of cases further increased the demand for beds in hospitals, oxygen cylinders and Remdesivir injection.
Talking to TOI on Monday, divisional commissioner Deepak Agrawal said, “We had been working on increasing beds and had added 1,500 beds in Covid facilities, including 500 in Level-3 hospital till Sunday. Today, the Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital at Lahartara established a Covid ward with 30 beds and will add 60 more beds by Tuesday evening. The BHU trauma centre has 74 Covid beds and will add 94 more.”
“We have also bought 10 new high flow nasal cannula (HFNC) machines and the technicians have already left from Delhi and will reach here by Tuesday morning to install them in Covid wards of DDU district hospital and other hospitals,” said Agrawal.
We will purchase 25 more HFNC machines, he added.
“There are 3,200 jumbo oxygen cylinders while the demand has increased to around 5,000. We have diverted 200 industrial cylinders and are tying up with several firms to increase supply. As many as 400 empty cylinders have been dispatched from Gujarat by train and are expected to reach on Wednesday,” said Agarwal.
Orders have been placed for two new RNA extraction machines to ensure fast reports of RTPCR tests. One would be installed in the BHU lab and another in SPG divisional hospital’s lab, he added.
BHU lab authorities have been asked to hire more data entry operators for timely feeding of lab test results and the district administration will provide funds to pay their salaries.
“The government is arranging Remdesivir injection vials and there will be suffucient supply, but there should be no panic buying,” he said.
The hospitals and pharmacy shops have been directed to make kits of medicines being prescribed to Covid-19 patients and those having symptoms for sale on prescribed rates.
After increasing helpline numbers of Covid command centre and control room, more helpline numbers are being launched from Vikas Bhawan.