Municipal Minister K.T. Rama Rao formally launched a 10-bed ICU initiative where ICUs with 10 beds are being set up in the districts to combat COVID cases in rural India and small towns.
The Minister virtually launched the first critical care ICU unit started in Narayanpet district. The 10-Bed-ICU (10BedICU.org) is a PPP (private-public-partnership) project between the State government and a group of NGOs. The goal of the 10-Bed-ICU project is to cover every district in India with at least one 10-Bed-ICU facility.
Mr. Rao and Vinod Khosla, founder partner, Khosla Ventures, USA., were the chief guests for the event. After the launch, Mr. Rao said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is according top priority to healthcare infrastructure in the State.
He said in the last seven years, the government has added 1,600 ICU beds, apart from setting up five new medical colleges, while another 7 medical colleges are in the pipeline. He also highlighted that the Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad presently has one of the largest ICUs in the country with 600 beds.
Mr. Rao promised his active support to the 10-Bed-ICU project to not only cover 33 district and secondary hospitals in Telangana but also to help take this initiative to the rest of the country. Mr. Vinod Khosla said that he will further fund 100 more district hospitals with 10-Bed-ICU across the country. He stressed the need for a technology platform and remote specialist assistance to help rural hospitals.
Mahesh Bhagwat, Commissioner of Police, Rachakonda, extended his support for expanding the programme beyond Telangana.
Srikanth Nadhamuni, co-founder of 10-Bed-ICU, said the programme consists of 10-Bed-ICU equipment donation, COVID Management Technology Platform and Doctor Connect programme.
Dr. Harichandana Dasari, Narayanpet Collector, and Nagesh Gouravanam, one of the co-founders were present.
The project is a partnership of 5 NGOs - eGovernments Foundation (egovernments.org), Nirmaan Organization (nirmaan.org), Karuna Trust (karunatrust.org), CoronaSafe (coronasafe.network) and GiveIndia (GiveIndia.org) Foundation.
