To make Karnataka ready for handling the possible third wave of COVID-19, the State government has decided to upgrade 146 taluk and 19 district hospitals in the next three months with an expenditure of ₹1,500 crore.
All taluk hospitals would be upgraded with 25 intensive care unit (ICU) beds, 25 high dependence unit (HDU) beds, and 50 oxygenated beds, ventilators, and diagnostic facilities. Nineteen (19) district hospitals would be upgraded with 100 ICU beds, said Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan, who is also heading the State COVID-19 Task Force.
Briefing the media on the decision taken at the Task Force meeting, Dr .Narayan said an action plan of ₹1,500 crore has been approved. About 4,100 doctors would be recruited to provide quality healthcare in upgraded taluk and district hospitals. Each doctor would require assistance of 2-3 nurses to provide the service. Similarly, Group ‘D’ employees would also be appointed for handling a variety of services in hospitals, he said.
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Out of ₹1,500 crore, a sum of ₹800 crore would be one-time investment for construction of buildings and purchase of equipment and while the rest would be spent on providing salaries of the staff.
Under the CSR funding, the Boston Consulting Group would provide technical support for upgrading taluk and district hospitals. More attention would be given to technological improvement to ensure inter-face dialogues in healthcare and hospital management.
District hospitals would be upgraded in such a way that they would be able to handle 97% of cases and only 3% of cases would be referred to the super speciality hospitals located in cities. There would be no compromise in the quality of upgradation of hospitals, the minister said.
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In another major decision, Dr. Narayan said a committee has been constituted headed by BBMP Commissioner Gaurav Gupta to identify lands for construction of secondary hospitals of 100 beds in each Assembly constituency of Bengaluru and one super speciality hospital for four Assembly constituencies.
Skill development
To meet the demand for skilled personnel in the delivery of various services in hospitals, COVID-19 care centres, ambulances, the Minister said a three month skill development training would be organised in six different programmes for 5,000 youths who passed 10th and 12th standards.
Resource personnel in hospital management and other fields would provide training in each district. A stipend of ₹5,000 per candidate would be provided during the three month course, the Deputy CM said.