No shortage of beds, oxygen in TS hospitals: Eatala

Hyderabad: A day after the selfie video of a 34-year-old Covid-19 patient, who died while undergoing treatment in Chest Hospital, Hyderabad, after bidding adieu to his family members saying that he was not able to breathe properly has gone viral, TS health minister Eatala Rajender, addressing mediapersons, said that there was no shortage of beds or oxygen in Telangana hospitals. He said they would look into the severity of the Coronavirus pandemic in Hyderabad and impose lockdown again if necessary. He urged people not to believe in videos being circulated on social media.

The minister also promised to provide internet facility to all the Covid-19 patients admitted in state hospitals. He said that some videos, which have gone viral, claiming that the state government was not providing oxygen to the patients were not true.

“The Chest Hospital at Erragadda is fully equipped and has all facilities. An additional 10,000 beds will be arranged at Gandhi Hospital, new swab collection centres will also be set up,” he said, adding that 3,500 beds have already been equipped with oxygen supply.

The minister said that the 10,000 beds will also be provided with oxygen supply soon.

“Gandhi Hospital has been exclusively catering to the needs of Covid-19 positive patients. The OP section is not functioning now. At present, there are around 2,000 beds in Gandhi Hospital. Compared to any other state, Telangana has the least fatality rate of 1.1 per cent,” he said.

Over 200 patients are undergoing treatment in Victoria Hospital and of them, one person died, the minister said.

Rajender said that government hospitals have been doing tests to their capacity. “There is no shortage of beds or oxygen in the government hospitals, he claimed.

The youth who passed away at Chest Hospital, Ram Kumar, tested positive for Covid-19, he said and added that the health staff would test all his family members for the virus.

“We are ready to test all the people who require it. Private labs were also given guidelines to conduct tests,” he said.

The health minister urged people with mild symptoms to observe home quarantine as they can recover well at home. He said that only 26 people who were in home quarantine were shifted to hospitals and that the rest were recovering, he informed.

Further, he said that the facilities at King Koti Chest Hospital would be improved. “We have requested private hospitals not to admit asymptomatic patients so that the patients who really need treatment can get the treatment,” he added.