Minister for Large and Medium Scale Industries and Dharwad district in-charge Jagadish Shettar has said that the district administration has now made provision for 6,000 beds for treating patients in the wake of a surge in the number of COVID-19 positive cases.
Speaking after the inauguration of a 50-bed private COVID-19 hospital and an 800-bed COVID Care Centre set up at Deshpande Foundation’s Skill Development Centre in Hubballi on Tuesday, Mr. Shettar said that it was a good initiative taken by private hospitals in the fight against the pandemic.
The Minister said that after a meeting with managements of private hospitals in the district, several hospitals had come forward to provide treatment to COVID-19 patients.
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“[Dr.] Ashok Bangarshettar of Ashoka Hospital has handed over the entire hospital to the district administration for the purpose. Now, through an arrangement with Balaji Hospital, the necessary health staff and doctors have been deployed in the hospital. It has been declared as a dedicated private COVID-19 hospital,” he said.
He said that with the help of the Deshpande Foundation, the 800-bed facility at Deshpande Skill Development Centre had been converted into a COVID Care Centre for asymptomatic patients. The Minister said that it had become a difficult task for the district administration to set up COVID Care Centres at small facilities and now, with the new centre, it would be easy to treat a large number of patients in one place.
Mr. Shettar said that beds, pillows and bedsheets were being provided by the district administration. At the COVID Care Centres, soap, oil, brush and other essential items were being provided to patients. This apart, provision had been made for recreation and the Deshpande Foundation would also be providing various online skill development training, he said.
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Isolation coaches
The Minister said that all steps had been taken to provide treatment to patients of the pandemic and steps would be taken to make use of the railway isolation coaches, if required.
MLA Arvind Bellad, Deputy Commissioner Nitesh Patil, Assistant Commissioner Mohammed Zuber, Tahsildars Shashidhar Madyal and Prakash Nashi, Hubballi IMA president [Dr.] Kranti Kiran, Dr. Ashok Bangarshettar, Chief Executive Officer of Deshpande Foundation Vivek Pawar and others were present.