Justin D’Silva

Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (MS)

Udupi, May 18: “In order to safeguard the infected people, who have tested positive for Covid-19, they must be admitted mandatorily to Covid care centres. If the oxygen saturation level is less than 94 the patient needs to be admitted to the hospital immediately. There is no shortage of normal beds and oxygen beds in the hospitals of the district. People should be made aware of these facilities,” said MLA Raghupati Bhat at the meeting of the task force that is formed to control the Covid-19 pandemic.

The task force meeting pertaining to six wards of the city municipality was held at Sharada Kalyana Mantapa of the city on Monday May 17 with officials of various departments.

Bhat further said, “Anyone who has tested positive for Covid-19 and has symptoms can get admitted to hospitals through call centres if the beds are not available at a government hospital. Treatment of Covid patients is completely free under the Ayushman scheme. Medical personnel will monitor their health 24x7. People should be made aware of this.

“The state government has ordered the district administration to form task forces at the ward level of city municipalities and gram panchayats in order to control Covid-19. This force will include Asha workers, police personnel, paramedics and village accountants.

“Those who are in home isolation with Covid positive but no symptoms should be visited every day and their oxygen saturation level should be checked and health information should be collected. According to medical experts, those who have tested Covid positive, recover soon if they are admitted to hospital as soon as their oxygen level falls below 94. If this stage is neglected, there is a chance that the condition of the patient may turn critical. So the oxygen saturation level of positive patients should be checked every day. For this reason, I have given Rs 10 lac from the MLA area development fund. A pulse oximeter is purchased from this amount. These should be given to people who are in home isolation on the condition of return of the same.”

ASP Sudhakar S Nayak, Udupi CI Manjunath, city municipality commissioner Uday Kumar Shetty, tahsildar Pradeep Kurdekar, city municipality president Sumitra R Nayak, city police station inspector Pramod Kumar, taluk health officer Vasudeva Upadhyaya, officials of health department and members of city municipality were present.