Will increase oxygen beds to 33,000 soon, says K Sudhakar

MYSURU

: Declaring

oxygen beds

the “most important” item to treat Covid patients,

medical education minister

K Sudhakar said the government is pulling out all stops to increase oxygenated beds and has set a target of ensuring 33,000 such beds in the state by the end of October.

Sudhakar insisted Covid deaths are not due to paucity of ventilators and revealed his department and the health department have been working together to increase the number of oxygen beds.

“More beds in medical college hospitals, district and taluk hospitals besides community health centres will soon have oxygen facilities,” the minister said. “We hope to achieve the target of 33,000 by the end of the month.”

Sudhakar, who was in Mysuru to take stock of the pandemic, said Mysuru’s positivity rate is 10% and the figure is much higher in urban areas of the district. In Karnataka, Mysuru district has the highest number of Covid cases and deaths after Bengaluru.

To contain infections and deaths, officials and elected representatives, who met on Monday, decided to identify senior citizens – those aged 65 years or above – and check if they have pre-medical conditions. “We will subject all those with comorbid conditions to swab tests and ensure they stay indoors,” Sudhakar said.

He also said identifying primary and secondary contacts “is a must”. “Within 48 hours, at least 10 primary and secondary contacts of positive patients must be tested for the virus,” he said.

Sudhakar also justified the hike in penalty for those not wearing masks while in public. The fine was raised from Rs 200 to Rs 1,000 and there was criticism that the poor cannot pay.

“Currently we don’t have a vaccine for Covid and the only available vaccine is a mask,” Sudhakar said. “About 90% of infections can be prevented by wearing a mask. Government has been urging people to follow guidelines for seven months, but many continue to ignore it. Our intention is not to collect fine, but to discipline people to ensure infections are kept at bay.”