Major schools, colleges in Chennai to turn ‘extension centres’ of govt hospitals to treat COVID-19 patients

Extension centres will have dedicated teams of doctors and nurses to provide treatment to COVID-19 patients and save their lives

May 16, 2021 02:19 pm | Updated 02:19 pm IST - CHENNAI

Relatives of COVID-19 patients wait outside outpatient ward of Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. File

Relatives of COVID-19 patients wait outside outpatient ward of Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. File

Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), with support from NGOs, is set to launch “extension centres” of government medical college hospitals to provide COVID-19 treatment for city residents.

These extension centres will have dedicated teams of doctors and nurses to provide treatment to COVID-19 patients and save their lives during the pandemic, reducing the load in government tertiary care hospitals.

Many residents have died because of a delay in reaching tertiary care hospitals, with the city registering around 7,000 cases a day. On May 16, Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi visited schools such as Don Bosco, Egmore to develop COVID care “extension centre” of Kilpauk Medical College Hospital.

The Corporation will provide beds, oxygen support and other infrastructure for the extension centres, while the NGOs will constitute the team of doctors and nurses, sponsoring them. For instance, Don Bosco Foundation has formed a team of new doctors, consultants and nurses to treat the patients at the hospital to be developed on the school premises at Egmore.

“Today, we went to Don Bosco School. We are opening a 104-bed hospital. The Corporation is giving the beds, infrastructure, the medicine, taking care of the sanitation and other facilities. The Don Bosco Foundation is giving us eight doctors, three consultants and 24 nurses, sponsoring them on their own. Beds have already been shifted, oxygen concentrators will come in a day or two. We will start by Wednesday and link it to a medical college as their extension facility,” said Mr. Gagandeep Singh Bedi.

In addition to the “extension centre” in Egmore Don Bosco, such centres will be developed at more than 10 locations including Nungambakkam, Royapettah and Perambur.

Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Minister P.K. Sekar Babu, who inspected the facility along with the Corporation Commissioner on May 16, said the new teams of doctors and nurses by non-government agencies will get all the support from the government to provide treatment to COVID-19 patients during the pandemic. “Civic officials are coordinating with various agencies to reduce case fatality during this pandemic. The government officials will monitor the extension centres,” said Mr. Sekar Babu.

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