Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Friday directed the authorities concerned in Bengaluru to ensure bed allocation and arrival of ambulance to the doorsteps of COVID-19 infected persons within two hours of being tested positive.
He gave the instructions at a meeting of all the eight zonal in-charge Ministers for reviewing the COVID-19 situation in the city.
According to an official communiqué from the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, Mr. Yediyurappa told the authorities to decentralise the bed allocation system to the zonal level. He told the zonal in-charge Ministers to remove all obstacles with respect to admission of infected persons to hospitals. He directed them to ensure availability of treatment for COVID as well as non-COVID patients in private hospitals according to government guidelines.
He asked the authorities to give priority for the admission of symptomatic people above 65 years of age.
Reiterating the government’s stance of home quarantining asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients, he said such patients could even be admitted to COVID Care Centres so that hospital beds are made available to those who are in dire need of treatment.
Rapid antigen tests
Mr. Yediyurappa instructed officials to conduct rapid antigen tests on the dead to know if they died due to COVID and take steps to handover the body or conduct last rites according to guidelines.
Similarly, rapid antigen tests should be conducted on those who died in home isolation and the family should be facilitated to conduct last rites as early as possible, the official communiqué said.
He said the government was in the process of filling up vacancies of doctors to fight shortage of medical staff. Volunteers had been identified in each ward and ambulances had also been notified. If private hospitals refuse admission, stringent action should be initiated against them, he said.
Nodal officers and volunteers would be deputed to private hospitals to ensure smooth coordination and to provide information about admissions and bed availability.
Referring to the problems involved in home isolation, the Chief Minister said marriage halls and hotels were identified in each ward to quarantine people who cannot go on home quarantine due to lack amenities in their residences.
No extension of lockdown
Amidst the demand by a section of experts and officials to extend the one-week lockdown in Bengaluru, the Chief Minister maintained that lockdown was not a solution to contain COVID and reiterated that there was no proposal before the government to extend it in the city.
He directed the authorities to conduct more number of COVID tests across the State and depute more number of police personnel to avoid crowding in certain places.
