Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi, who also holds the Transport portfolio, flagged off oxygen bus services for COVID-19 patients in Koppal on Monday.
“The idea of oxygen bus service is conceived to provide oxygen to patients in need. Buses that have to be scrapped after they have completed 9 lakh km of running are being converted into oxygen buses. When hospitals run out of oxygen beds due to a heavy rush of patients, these buses will serve as mobile hospitals with oxygen facility. An oxygen bus can house five oxygen beds and a ventilator. A doctor and a nursing staff will also be available on the bus,” Mr. Savadi said, after inaugurating the service.
He also directed Koppal Deputy Commissioner Vikas Kishor Suralkar and NEKRTC Koppal Controller M.A. Mulla to utilise MLA LAD Funds to convert such scrapped RTC buses into oxygen buses in the district and station one such bus in each taluk.
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Speaking to mediapersons later, Mr. Savadi said that his department has planned to develop 100 oxygen buses in the State and provide them to all districts and bigger taluks in the days to come. “All the State-owned Road Transport Corporations operating under the Department of Transport are identifying buses that have to be scrapped and converting them into oxygen buses,” he said.
Lok Sabha Member from Koppal Karadi Sanganna, legislators K. Raghavendra Hitnal, Paranna Munavalli, Halappa Achar and Basavaraj Dhadesugur, Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Raghunandan Murthy and Superintendent of Police T. Sridhar and others were present.