Express News Service
NEW DELHI: As the rise in Covid-19 cases continues unabated in India, the Centre on Saturday issued a fresh set of instructions to states asking them to start creating makeshift hospitals, to tie up with hotels to convert them into temporary hospitals and to keep an eye on paediatric cases.
The directions come as the government is fearing an exponential rise in Covid-19 cases which may lead to a large number of people getting moderately or severely ill within a very short period of time.
On Saturday morning, a total of 22,775 new Covid-19 cases were recorded in the country while the number of active cases shot past 1,04,781, the highest in nearly two and a half months.
In letters sent to the state chief secretaries, the Union health secretary said that with the sudden rise in cases, parts of the country may start seeing a stressed health infrastructure.
ALSO READ | ‘Third wave may see 80 lakh cases, 80,000 deaths’: Maharashtra warns of huge Covid surge, fatalities
“To address a potential surge in cases, with a view to ensuring preparedness, states are advised to initiate the creation of field or makeshift hospitals to augment the availability of health infrastructure,” said the letter. It added that states may take the help of agencies such as DRDO, CSIR, corporations, private sector or NGOs.
The health secretary also said that states may also consider leveraging hotel rooms and other accommodations linked with the Covid dedicated hospitals in the government and private sector to cater to patients with mild or moderate cases.
The Centre also said that as a large number of patients will need to isolate at home, the states need to ensure that the home isolation guidelines are properly implemented, using measures such as the creation of special teams, call centres and control rooms which may guide patients on hospitalization in case of need.
“A clearly defined mechanism to assess testing, ambulances and hospital beds needs to be put in place and communicated to the public at large,” said the letter, adding that a mechanism where people can call and get ambulances and beds in a transparent manner.
States have also been instructed to ensure that the existing Covid dedicated health infrastructure is revisited and necessary action to ensure its operational readiness be taken, with a clear focus on rural areas and paediatric cases.