200- bed maternity hospital may become COVID-19 centre

This is in addition to facilities available at GIMS

Minister for Mines and Geology and district-in-charge for Gadag district C.C. Patil has said that in case of dire need, in addition to Gadag Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS), a 200-bed maternity hospital in Gadag-Betageri would be converted into a designated COVID-19 hospital.

Addressing a press conference in Gadag after holding a review meeting on COVID-19 control on Monday, Mr. Patil said that at present the district had a capacity to carry out 250 COVID-19 tests daily. And, depending on need for a hospital, further steps would be taken. “In case of dire need of hospital facility, apart from converting the maternity hospital into a COVID-19 hospital, the district administration will take steps to set up 150 to 200 beds in private hospitals for treatment of patients affected by the pandemic,” he said.

He said that the district administration had already identified 1,315 beds for COVID-19 treatment in 30 health centres in the district. This apart, steps were being taken to modify Morarji Desai residential schools for treating patients, he said.

Clarifying that there was no dearth of funds or scarcity of medical equipment and human sources for fighting the pandemic, the Minister said that the district had a stock of 16,000 PPE kits for doctors and medical staff, 10,000 VTM (Viral Transport Media) kits for swab collecting staff and 15,000 N-95 masks and they were being used as per requirement.

Mr. Patil said that strict instructions had been given to all the staff and officials of the health and other government departments to ensure good food and treatment for COVID-19 patients and those showing negligence in work would be dealt with strictly. He also clarified that any attack or ill-treatment of corona warriors would not be tolerated and strict action would be taken against such offenders.

Earlier, chairing a review meeting, the Minister asked the officials to ensure that all the guidelines issued by the government to prevent the spread of the pandemic were strictly followed. He asked the officials to ensure proper coordination with local organisations and individuals to ensure better implementation of the precautionary measures.