Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) has taken up measures to contain the spread of novel coronavirus with tracing, testing and treatment by scaling up the medical facilities by allocating ₹ 71crore for the purpose.
According to the company officials, the company has arranged 1,400 beds for COVID treatment in its hospitals and taken up vaccination of employees, retired employees, contract staff and their family members. As part of tracing and testing, over 1 lakh rapid antigen and TC-PCR tests were done in the Singareni areas after purchasing 1.27 lakh test kits with ₹ 3.16 crore.
A total of 12,308 positive cases have been reported in the Singareni areas so far and the active cases now were around 2,300. The active cases were either in home isolation or in special wards set up for institutional isolation and some were undergoing treatment in the hospitals. The company has also tied up with several corporate hospitals in Hyderabad for the treatment of serious cases.
The officials explained that there were about 800 employees who were undergoing treatment now out of the total strength of about 44,000. The remaining active cases include 400 contract workers and 1,100 family members of the workers. The company has also spent ₹ 38 crore on the treatment of 867 serious cases in the corporate hospitals in Hyderabad so far and at present there about 45 patients under treatment in Hyderabad.
Stating that the company has also procured medicines, ventilators, oxymeters, protective kits, medical equipment and improved infrastructure in the hospitals, the Singareni officials said the company was also establishing six oxygen plants on the premises of its hospitals. Medical professionals including doctors, nurses and other support staff were also hired on contract basis to deal with the situation.
On vaccination, the officials said nearly 28,000 employees, contract staff, retired employees and their family members were administered COVID vaccine so far and efforts were being made to procure another 50,000 doses of vaccine directly from the makers with an aim to vaccinate all employees and their family members by July.
To support the families of employees who succumbed to COVID the company was paying ₹15 lakh ex gratia to their families.
