Bhubaneswar, Sep 16 (IANS): The Odisha government on Wednesday clarified that there is no ban on referral of Covid patients to Bhubaneswar and Cuttack from other districts.

"Government is not banning movement of patients to Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. It's regulating to ensure that they travel safe and with proper medical advice and logistics," said Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy.

Tripathy said precautions should be taken at the time of sending the patients to referral hospitals.

"Covid patients travelling to Cuttack and Bhubaneswar on advice of health authorities must do so under proper med mgt & equipment/oxygen support. Carelessness in the past has led to serious consequences. Govt has created advanced Covid facilities in twin cities for the entire state," tweeted the chief secretary.

Additional Chief Secretary to Health department, Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said while there has been no ban on referring the Covid patients to the twin cities, the doctors have been asked to take adequate precautions while sending the patients.

Earlier, Mohapatra on Tuesday directed the authorities to manage critical Covid-19 patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) or high dependency unit (HDU) initially instead of referring them to Bhubaneswar or Cuttack.

Notably, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar have become the Covid-19 hotspots while recording maximum positive cases in the past several days.