The city Corporation has decided to arrange 1,000 more beds across various COVID-19 First-Line Treatment Centres (FLTC) that are newly set to open.
Speaking at a press conference here on Saturday, Mayor Arya Rajendran said that 516 out of the 629 available beds in 9 existing FLTCs and secondary care centres have already been filled.
“In addition to the nine existing FLTCs, thousand more beds will be arranged soon at the FLTCs to be opened at the BSNL centre in Kaimanam, at LNCPE hostel, Karyavattom campus, CET campus, Samethi at Anayara, Greenfield Stadium and Rosa Mystica School near Kottapuram,” she said.
She said that the most number of demands that the councillors get from people in their wards is for transport facility to COVID-testing centres, especially from those whose family members have already tested positive. The Corporation has decided to buy two ambulances, as well as rent out ambulances and use mini buses from government schools under the Corporation for this purpose. A total of five hundred autorickshaws, with five from each of the hundred wards, will also be readied exclusively to take people to testing centres, she said.
There has also been demand for food from those who have tested positive and are in home isolation, and from those who are in quarantine. The Corporation will use its volunteer force to distribute food from the 16 Janakeeya hotels in the city to such households. The rapid response team will monitor this. Two more Janakeeya hotels will be opened in Pattom and Edavacode.
It has also been decided to expand the existing control room at the Corporation with eight separate counters for general information, transport facilities, sanitation, vaccination, medical team, food and medicines, collection centre for masks and other pandemic-related material and for volunteers.
A standing committee chairperson and a health official will be in charge of each of these. The control rooms can be reached at 04712377702 and 04712377706.
The Mayor said that the control room has been receiving 200 to 300 calls daily, with requests for help for those who have tested positive, information on beds and complaints on COVID-19 protocol violations. A total of 2,500 volunteers have been readied in the city with 25 volunteers in each of the hundred wards.
The Mayor, Secretary, health standing committee chairperson, health officer and other health wing officials have been meeting online at regular intervals in the past few days to plan the pandemic response in the capital.
