VIMS designated as regional COVID-19 isolation centre

It will cater to the needs of patients from four north coastal Andhra districts

Timely move: A dedicated COVID-19 treatment centre with 400-bed facility will be ready at Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences within a week, says official.

The government has identified four hospitals in the State including Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) in the city as COVID-19 isolation centres, Collector V. Vinay Chand said on Thursday.

“The VIMS has been designated as the regional COVID-19 isolation centre for four districts of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam and East Godavari. If any case is reported in these districts, the patients will be shifted to VIMS,” said the Collector after visiting the VIMS and asked the officials to arrange the necessary staff. VIMS will be made a dedicated COVID-19 treatment centre with 400-bed facility within a week.

Additional manpower

VIMS Director K. Satya Varaprasad told

The Hindu that they were offering quarantine facility to relatives and acquaintances of Stage 1 and 2 COVID-19 patients at present.

“The State government has sanctioned a premier COVID-19 testing centre at VIMS. We have already initiated measures to acquire 400 ventilators and additional manpower to take care of the patients,” he said.

At present, isolation facility is available at King George Hospital (KGH) and Government Hospital for Chest and Communicable Diseases, but to only a limited number in the city. Testing to diagnose the positive cases is being done in Kakinada and Tirupati.

Treatment for those diagnosed positive is being rendered by Government Hospital for Chest and Communicable Diseases.

“It is a challenging situation to prevent community transmission as Stage 2 cases have already been confirmed in the city. Of the 400 beds, 100 will be earmarked to treat patients in isolation. We are hopeful of getting 50 to 100 ventilators in the next few days,” said Dr. Varaprasad.