COVID-19 hospital at Omandurar to have 500 beds: CM

3,000 medical staff appointed; 200 ambulances to be added to existing fleet

Spot check: Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami inspecting the special ward for COVID-19 patients at the Government Medical College Hospital, Omandurar, in Chennai on Friday.

On a day the State saw nine confirmed cases of COVID-19, the government scaled up efforts to battle the pandemic with Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami announcing that the first exclusive government hospital for the SARS-CoV-2 patients in Tamil Nadu at Block B of Government Medical College Hospital at Omandurar will have 500 beds, instead of the planned 350.

About 15,000 beds have been readied for handling people with symptoms of COVID-19, he added.

The government also appointed 530 doctors, 1,000 nurses and 1,508 lab technicians through the Medical Recruitment Board. The Chief Minister directed the newly recruited medical staff to join service within three days of receiving their appointment orders.

Mr. Palaniswami sanctioned induction of 200 new ambulances to the state’s medical fleet. Besides the control room operated by the Health Department, the one in the Secretariat would be declared as ‘Chief Control Room.’

The Chief Minister told journalists that Tamil Nadu was now in Stage 1 of the global pandemic. “We are moving towards Stage 2. We have taken all steps to prevent it. We want to control it in stage 1 itself. This can be done if people cooperate with us [by staying indoors],” he said.

Technically, Stage 1 is primarily imported cases, i.e. persons who travelled to other countries and contracted the infection. Stage 2 is when people who come in contact with the infected person test positive.

The government reiterated that persons who returned from abroad since February 15 and those who were in physical contact with them should go under self-quarantine.

“They have to intimate this information to officials from the corporation and municipalities,” an official release said.

Calls PM

Meanwhile, Mr. Palaniswami informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over phone of the precautionary and relief measures being taken against COVID-19 in the State.

An official release said Mr. Modi reiterated that the lockdown be observed strictly, while ensuring the public had access to essential commodities and services.

Mr. Palaniswami chaired a meeting with Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar, Chief Secretary K. Shanmugam, Director General of Police J.K. Tripathy and other senior officials in his camp office.