Karnataka will utilise Boeing India’s aid to upgrade the ESI hospital in Kalaburagi.

Murugesh R Nirani, minister for Mines and Geology and Kalaburagi district in-charge, said “Boeing India’s donation including beds and medical equipment will be used to upgrade the ESI hospital and there will be no separate facility.” He was speaking to reporters on Tuesday.

Boeing India had earlier announced to set up 250-oxygenated bed hospitals in Bengaluru and Kalaburagi.

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The minister further said constructing a new hospital would take a lot of time and hence it was decided to upgrade ESI hospital with Boeing India’s donation. The facility would be upgraded at the earliest and thrown open to the public as soon as possible.

On ramping up medical infrastructure, Nirani said the district administrations can utilise funds available under DMF to set up Covid care centres, procuring oxygen, medicine and other medical equipment to treat patients.

Dip in Covid cases

Heaving a sigh of relief over the considerable dip in the number of cases in Kalaburagi, Nirani expressed hope that the district would see further decline. “Compared to other districts, the number of Covid-19 cases has decreased considerably in Kalaburagi. It was in third position 15 days ago and now it is 19th position and we hope to see it in 24 spot in the next few days. The cases decreased due to the efforts of everyone, including MP, MLAs and district administration,” Nirani said.

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Home isolation is difficult due to lack of rooms and sanitation facilities in villages, hence the government is ramping up the capacity of taluk hospitals and also converting residential schools and hostels into Covid care centres to house such patients.

The minister denied shortage of oxygen in Kalaburagi district. “With the additional allocation and procurement, we have been getting 35 kl of oxygen which is sufficient to treat the patients here. We supplied surplus oxygen to neighbouring districts such as Vijayapura and Belagavi,” Nirani stated.

Enough stock of Remdesivir

Expressing satisfaction over supply of Remdesivir vials, Nirani said they have enough supply to meet the demand. “Remdesivir vials have been supplied to each district as per the requirement. We will be receiving 1,700 vials today and we have enough stock to treat patients in both government and private hospitals. We have not witnessed sale of Remdesivir vials in the black market due to stringent measures taken by the government. The vials must be opened before the patients and hospitals will have to return the empty bottles with the name and phone number of patients which will be verified by the police task force to check if it was administered to the real beneficiary,” said the minister.

Admitting black fungus cases in Kalaburagi, Nirani stated that three cases have been reported in the district. He denied shortage of medicine to treat the patients suffering from black fungus and warned of action against officials hiding the number of such cases in the district.

The minister further added that the abandoned ESI hospital in Shahabad was being refurbished on war footing and would be turned into Covid care centre in three weeks. The facility would be turned into a full-fledged hospital in the next two months.

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