Health Minister Harish Rao said on Friday that preliminary indication revealed that Omicron spreads faster even if it might not be much severe.
“So, the onus is on us to keep ourselves, our families and the city safe by adhering to COVID appropriate behaviour. The government is ready to tackle any third wave as Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had released sufficient funds for the same,” he said.
In twin cities itself, 1,400 hospital beds have been added, including 800 in Niloufer Hospital and 600 in the area hospitals at Vanasthalipuram, Golconda, Kondapur and three others with oxygen facility.
Vanasthalipuram health care facility had 120 beds and will now be having a capacity of 220 beds with 35 doctors, he said.
The Minister was addressing a gathering after inaugurating a 100-bed ward at the Area Hospital of Vaidya Vidhana Parishad at Vanasthalipuram on Friday.
An oxygen generating plant and a 12-bed intensive care unit, established with the help of a voluntary organisation, were also opened at the hospital. Local MLA D. Sudheer Reddy was present. About 21 lakh home isolation kits have been readied and the oxygen capacity has been increased by three times ever since the second wave. Also, sufficient drugs have been procured, he said.
Mr. Rao urged citizens to make use of government healthcare facilities like urban healthcare centres and newly-established diagnostic centres where as many as 57 tests were done free of cost.
The Minister said that every eligible person should take both doses of the COVID vaccine, and even pregnant women should not skip it. He appealed to people to get tested at the nearest government facility in case of any COVID symptoms.
Osmania and Gandhi hospitals were being equipped with CT-scanners and cath labs. Soon, the CM would lay foundation stone for a 1,000-bed hospital at Gaddiannaram, he added.
