States »SoutPosted at: May 16 2021 4:37PM Schools, colleges to become COVID extension Centres of Govt hospitals
Chennai, May 16 (UNI) With a view to meeting the growing
demand for beds and reduce the load in government hospitals,
schools and colleges in Chennai city will be made as COVID
extension centres for treatment with oxygen support.
The makeshift COVID treatment centre will serve as extension
centres of the government medical college hospitals.
It will come up in more than ten locations in the city in view of
the surge in COVID cases and to provide timely treatment to
the COVID patients.
The main aim is to save the precious lives of the people and
reduce the fatality rate, HR and CE Minister PK Sekar Babu
told reporters, after inspecting one such facility.
The 'Extension Centres', to be launched by Wednesday by
the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), with support from
NGOs, will have dedicated teams of doctors and nurses to
provide treatment to COVID-19 patients and save their lives
during the pandemic, thereby reducing the load in government
tertiary care hospitals.
Several patients have died because of the delay in reaching
tertiary care hospitals, as the city's daily caseload went past
the 6,500 mark and the demand for bed with oxygen facility
was growing.
To begin with the first extension centre will be set up at Don
Bosco School at Egmore area in the city with a 104-bed
hospital.
On Sunday, Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi
visited a few schools, including the Don Bosco, Egmore where
a COVID care “extension centre” of Kilpauk Medical College
Hospital, will come up.
While the Corporation will provide beds, oxygen support and other
infrastructure for the extension centres, the NGOs will sponsor the
team of doctors and nurses, Mr Bedi told reporters.
The Don Bosco Foundation has formed a team of new doctors,
consultants and nurses to treat the patients at the hospital to be
developed on the school premises at Egmore.
“Today, we went to Don Bosco School where will are opening a
104-bed hospital. The Corporation is giving the beds, infrastructure,
the medicine, taking care of the sanitation and other facilities. The
Don Bosco Foundation is giving us eight doctors, three consultants
and 24 nurses, sponsoring them on their own", he said.
Beds have already been shifted and the oxygen concentrators will
be ready a day or two. We will start the hospital by Wednesday and
link it to a medical college as their extension facility,” Mr.Gagandeep
Singh Bedi said.
In addition to the “extension centre” in Egmore Don Bosco, such
centres will be developed at more than ten locations including
Nungambakkam, Royapettah and Perambur.
HR and CE Minister P K Sekar Babu, who inspected the facility
along with Mr Bedi, said the new teams of doctors and nurses
by NGOs will get all the support from the government to provide
treatment to COVID-19 patients during the pandemic.
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