Bengaluru, Apr 24 (IANS): The Karnataka health minister on Saturday said that the state government will be adopting tough measures on the lines of the steps taken by the United Kingdom to contain the spread of the second wave of the coronavirus in that country in December 2020.

The minister issued a stern warning to private hospital owners and government doctors not to succumb to any pressure and admit only those patients whose oxygen saturation level falls below 90 per cent. "We are issuing a circular in this regard that only patients below 90 per cent of oxygen saturation level be given beds," he said.

Health Minister Sudhakar said that the UK's tough measures included allotment of hospital beds only to those patients whose oxygen saturation level fell below 90 per cent when the second wave of Covid had swept that country in December 2020.

"Initially, when the second wave swept across the UK, many people got admitted to hospitals using influence. In India too, 'influence' does play a vital role, here (Karnataka) too in some cases even in government hospitals, beds are occupied by asymptomatic patients or mild-symptomatic patients and as a result of this there is a shortage of beds," he said.

He appealed to the people not to seek beds after mild symptoms. He also requested fellow politicians' friends to stop using influence to admit a patient.

The minister pointed out that during the first phase of the second wave in the UK too many lives were lost due to beds being occupied by mildly symptomatic patients. However, they realised their mistake very soon and rectified it immediately by making it mandatory that admission into hospitals will only be for those whose oxygen level has fallen below 90 percent. "We need such stringent measures here too and only then the number of fatalities can be minimised," he asserted.