From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, May 5: Providing results of Covid tests within seven hours is being done in KC General Hospital in Malleswaram and this will be expanded to the entire state, deputy chief minister and State Covid ministerial Task Force head, Dr CN Ashwath Narayan, said on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters after reviewing the Covid situation in Malleswaram, he said providing reports of Covid tests and Bengaluru Urban (BU) code number generation will be made to happen within seven hours.
Earlier, it used to take 72 hours to get results after the reach of samples to the laboratory. Now this has been reduced to seven hours. This enables early detection of the infection and to start treatment before the infection advances, Dr Narayan explained.
Dr Ashwath Narayan (file photo)
Measures will be taken to do the blood tests of those who are in home isolation. Blood test will help to know the condition of the infected patient and to find out the inflammatory markers, he said.
Oxygen produced in the state will be completely utilized within the state itself. Currently, there is supply of 850 MTs of oxygen to the state. If the demand for oxygen increases further, arrangements will be done to get it from other states or from other countries, he said.
Anti-viral drug Remdesivir will be useful only in the primary stage of the infection. But when the infection is more this antiviral is of no use, he said.
About 30-40% of the infected are getting admitted to hospitals even though they do not require because of anxiety. So steps will be taken to reduce the anxiety of the patients, Dr Narayan said.
The deputy chief minister said hospitals are told to keep enough stock of consumables like masks, PPE Kits, oximeters, medicines etc.
With regard to a query about the situation in Ramanagara, he said oxygen storage facility and an oxygen generation plant of 1000 litres/minute would be set up in the district hospital.
Also, discussion is in progress about establishing oxygen generation plants in four other taluk hospitals of the district with the aid of CSR funds. This would resolve the dependency of hospitals on oxygen suppliers and manufacturers.
As of now, the number of active cases in the district is around 3,000.
Remdesivir supply to be increased to 20,000 vials per day
Dr Narayana said Remdesivir supply to increase to 20,000 vials per day for the next five days.
Four companies which are supplying anti-viral drug Remdesivir to the government have agreed to increase the supply to 20,000 vials for the next five days starting from May 6 (Thursday), he said.
The deputy chief minister said, “I have spoken to company heads of these four companies and put together, they have agreed to increase the supply to 20,000 vials. Till now, these companies were supplying 10,000 vials in total per day. The companies have agreed to further increase the supply after May 9."
Dr Narayan had a telephonic conversation with Nikhil Baswan, global head of Cipla, Rakesh Banji of Mylan, Kiran Majumdar Shaw of Syngen and Umangur of Jubiliant.
To curb any black marketing of Remdesivir, the names of the patients for whom it is administered will be recorded and the names of those will be put in the public domain to ensure transparency, he explained.
The triage of the Covid patients will be further strengthened in starting from the PHC level itself. The needed additional staff required for this will be deployed by roping in internees, final year graduation students and PG students of all the medical/paramedical courses, Dr Narayan clarified.
The PHCs are also told to ensure enough stock of medical consumables such as masks, PPE kits, aprons, pulse oximeters etc., he added.