Hyderabad: Prime Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Monday announced a dual strategy to spread the word: Covid-19 in the state of Telangana. Apart from the fever survey and the handing over of medical equipment to symptomatic persons, the government will also increase the testing in the state, which starts on Wednesday. The prime minister also wanted the state administration to be fully prepared for the expected third wave of Covid-19, whenever it occurs.
‘We must increase the stock of Rapid Antigen test kits to 50 lakh, and no one may be denied a Covid test at any Primary Health Care Center (PHC) or other testing centers. If necessary, speak directly to the manufacturers and place orders for a greater supply of test kits, ‘the prime minister told officials at a high-profile meeting on Pragathi Bhavan on the Covid-19 situation, black fungus as well as the nationwide exclusion.
The Prime Minister also instructed the Covid-19 Task Force chaired by Minister KT Rama Rao to immediately convene a meeting with the vaccine manufacturers to provide sufficient vaccines to ensure that people awaiting their second dose are vaccinated.
The Prime Minister noted that the pandemic showed signs of deterioration due to the strict implementation of the exclusion, with a view to public health and safety. He instructed Health Director G Srinivas Rao to immediately hold a teleconference with district physicians and health officials and to compile a list of requirements in all hospitals, including staff, medicine and other facilities.
The prime minister wanted officials to immediately address the shortcomings, including speeding up the temporary recruitment of medical staff in all government hospitals. “There is no need to doubt the expenditure that the government will incur as a result of these measures, as public health is the most important for the government,” he said.
Chandrashekhar Rao said that the expenditure of certain departments would increase and that other departments could decrease, because Chandrashekhar Rao asked the Minister of Finance, T Harish Rao, to conduct an investigation and identify the departments where cost savings can be implemented, except that the allocations to departments such as police and health.
The Prime Minister stressed that the measures taken in urban centers like Delhi had to be studied which could contain the spread of Coronavirus with the lock-up effectively. He suggested that a special team visit Delhi for this purpose. He suggested increasing the number of oxygen beds in all state hospitals, and arrangements to scale up oxygen supplies to 600 tons.
‘We are making good progress in combating the pandemic, but we must try harder to lower the positivity rate to five percent and win this battle. To do this, we need to investigate good measures implemented in other states like Delhi and Maharashtra, which are yielding good results. There is nothing wrong with repeating such measures and applying them more effectively to achieve the desired results, ‘he claimed.
Source: Telangana Today