12k more beds with oxygen facilities to come up in TN

CHENNAI: Of the 12,000 additional beds with oxygen facilities to be set up in the State, about 2,000 will be readied by this weekend, promised Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan on Tuesday. Briefing the media after inspecting a Covid screening centre at Tondiarpet, Radhakrishnan said that the Chief Minister had ensured the setting up of more oxygen beds not only in Chennai but also in Coimbatore, Salem, Madurai and Tiruchy districts.

“Owing to the Sunday lockdown and other restrictions, there has been a slight dip in the number of daily cases in the last two days. If we can adhere to the restrictions and precautions in the coming days too, we can definitely contain the spread. People should make more use of the Covid screening centres opened by the Chennai Corporation for better triage.

The civic body has also arranged 100 vehicles to transport the public to the screening centres,” the Health Secretary said, adding that instead of visiting screening centres, people were rushing to hospitals and creating artificial shortage of beds. Noting that a special team has been formed to supervise the utilisation of oxygen, Radhakrishnan said, “Our State’s daily oxygen requirement has jumped from 280 KL last year to 310 KL this year. The government hospitals in Tamil Nadu now has 882 KL of oxygen and private hospitals 1,167 KL.”

He added that vaccine wastage will be brought down to zero per cent once the vaccination drive is opened for everyone aged above 18 years. The State government has also commenced the sale of Remdesivir at Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital to curb sale of the drug in the black market.