In Gujarat, at least one lakh beds and 15,000 ICUs with ventilators are ready to be converted for the use of COVID-19 patients if needed, according to a review of operational readiness conducted across various health facilities on Tuesday.
As a precautionary measure in light of an increase in COVID-19 cases in some countries, the Centre has asked states and union territories to conduct mock drills at all COVID-19 hospitals.
State Health Minister Rushikesh Patel said Gujarat has prepared a comprehensive plan and reviewed the preparedness of the existing health infrastructure in case of any eventuality on the pandemic front.
The government will also launch a fresh drive for administering booster doses after receiving 12 lakh doses of Covaxin and Covishield vaccines for which it has placed a fresh order, the minister said.
Mr Patel reviewed preparations at Gandhinagar civil hospital and stated that a mock drill was held at health facilities across Gujarat, including community health centres (CHCs), medical colleges and hospitals, and district and sub-district hospitals, where health infrastructure has been created to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The State Health Minister said “Today, we have one lakh and five thousand beds which can be converted immediately (for the use of COVID-19 patients). Then we have 15,000 ventilators and as many ICUs available with us. If we need a new arrangement after exhausting the available arrangements, we will create it as per the requirement.”
He stated that the state had stopped ordering COVID-19 vaccine doses after people lost interest in receiving a booster dose. The state has placed a new order with the Centre for 12 lakh doses of Covishield and Covaxin and will launch a new campaign for the precautionary dose.
“A mock drill was carried out to make sure that the infrastructure set up to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic is fully operational. It is meant to understand whether the facilities provided are functioning properly or are facing difficulties,” Mr Patel added.
Mock drills were held in all such places where infrastructure facilities were set up such as CHCs, district and sub-district hospitals, and medical colleges, he said.
As per the Central advisory, the mock drill exercise is to focus on parameters such as the availability of health facilities (covering all districts), the capacity of isolation beds, oxygen-supported beds, ICU beds and ventilator-supported beds, optimal availability of doctors, nurses, paramedics, and other frontline workers etc.
The state has so far reported 12,77,548 cases, 12,66,465 recoveries and 11,043 deaths, it said.
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