In the wake of increasing number of COVID-19 fatalities, the State Health Department has established a Critical Care Support Unit to monitor the progress of COVID-19 patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) of various designated COVID hospitals across the State. The unit was inaugurated by Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar on Wednesday.
The Minister said Karnataka is the first State in the country to establish a dedicated unit for Critical Care Support, by linking ICUs of COVID hospitals across the State onto a single platform.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister Suresh Kumar said critical care support would assist in providing advanced healthcare to patients in ICU who are on ventilator, those who are on oxygen or without oxygen, those with comorbidities, those aged above 60, and pregnant women.
Jawaid Akhtar, Additional Chief Secretary (Health and Family Welfare), said: “The Critical Care Support Unit is monitored by a centralised team of doctors from the Health Department, medical colleges and interns from KIMS, M.S. Ramaiah Hospital and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Medical College. This team will work around the clock in three shifts to monitor patients admitted to ICUs. At the end of each day, the Critical Care Support Unit will review the progress and implementation of the action plan and share it with higher authorities for further action.”
The government will soon set up district-level medical committee of experts comprising anaesthesiologists, cardiologists, pulmonologists, nephrologists, and general physicians. They will be connected with a set of patients in one or more districts so that they can monitor and advise a suitable treatment, he added.
