300-bed COVID Care Centre opened in city

Health Minister urges people to use the facility to reduce pressure on hospitals

A 300-bed COVID Care Centre was set up under the aegis of Pragathi Bharathi Foundation at Sheela Nagar in Visakhapatnam on Friday. The hospital will be run by the district administration.

Deputy Chief Minister Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas (Nani) has said that the 300-bed COVID Care Centre, set up under the aegis of Pragathi Bharathi Foundation, at Vikas College premises at Sheela Nagar in the city is comparable to a full-fledged COVID hospital.

The Deputy Chief Minister inaugurated the centre along with Rajya Sabha member V. Vijaya Sai Reddy and Ministers Kurasala Kannababu and Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao on Friday.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Kali Krishna Srinivas said that the oxygen requirement during the first wave surge, which was only 40 MTs, has now crossed 600 MTs. He said the rapid spread of the pandemic during the second wave has led to the scarcity of beds in hospitals and appealed to the people to make use of the care centres like this to reduce the pressure on COVID hospitals.

The services of specialist doctors will be made available at the centre with the help of doctors from Andhra Medical College (AMC). He appreciated the foundation for handing over the infrastructure to the State government for maintenance. The Minister said that Andhra Pradesh was far better compared to many other States in the country in handling of the crisis. He said that the multi-tier oxygen facility would enable the smooth flow of oxygen.

Foundation Managing Trustee Vijaya Sai Reddy said that the centre was set up in tune with the vision of the Chief Minister to ensure that no patient should suffer for want of oxygen facility. Two oxygen tanks of 3,750 cu.m. capacity were set up to provide continuous support to the patients. There were 20 washrooms and an equal number of toilets on each floor of the building. There were two auto-start generators. A total of 30 members of the foundation would extend services at the centre.

Mayor Golagani Hari Venkata Kumari, Government Whip Budi Mutyala Naidu, MLAs Gudivada Amarnath, Karanam Dharmasri, Shankar Ganesh, Chetti Phalguna and K. Bhagyalakshmi, Deputy Mayor Jiyyani Sridhar, YSRCP city president Vamsi Krishna Srinivas, former MLAs Malla Vijaya Prasad, S.A. Rehaman and Chintalapudi Venkataramaiah attended.