The State government has decided to set up Intensive Care Units (ICUs) at COVID Care Centres (CCC) in Bengaluru as part of measures to tackle the pandemic.
A note from the office of Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan said that every CCC would be equipped with 10 ICUs, and the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), which is being converted into one, would have 100 ICUs. On Sunday, he visited the BIEC to take stock of the preparations under way there.
The note said that the government had already set up CCCs at the GKVK campus, Haj Bhavan, and the Art of Living Foundation campus, and similar facilities would be operational at the BIEC, Government Ayurveda College, and Koramangala Indoor Stadium soon.
The decision to have ICUs at CCCs came after a meeting with medical experts at the BIEC. By Monday, 7,000 beds will be ready at the BIEC, while another 3,000 will be made available later in the week. Asymptomatic patients will be diverted to the BIEC now, he said.
No non-medical duty
The Deputy Chief Minister said that all medical staff would be relieved from their non-medical duty at the CCCs since the government was deploying additional staff. “With this, the medical staff will be free from routine works and can focus on COVID-19 care,” he said.
When the medical staff at the CCC brought to his notice the shortage in supply of drugs, he directed the officials concerned to ensure all the required medicines and drugs are supplied on priority basis, the note said.
