Gujarat: More facilities being readied in various districts, says Govt

Till Monday, 11,108 persons were home quarantined of which 10,850 are undergoing the same across the state. Around 224 persons have been institutionally quarantined at government facilities.

Drugs stock

The state government has decided to stock up Hydroxychloroquine after the national task force for COVID-19 recommending it as a prophylaxis for SARS-CoV infection. The drugs will be prescribed in prophylactic (preventive) dosage to health workers and other functionaries such as doctors working with COVID-19 positive patients, as per government of India guidelines, said Ravi. The state will also stock up associated vitamins and minerals.

Control facilities

Four COVID-19 infection control facilities are expected to be established by this week, of which a 1,200-bed facility at the Ahmedabad Civil hospital, is expected to start operations in the next couple of days for the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar zone, according to Ravi. “We are reaching out even internationally for equipment, including ventilators,” she said. Till Monday evening, Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad accounted for 17 of the total 30 cases in the state.

For Rajkot-Bhavnagar zone, a 238-bed facility will come up in the PMSSY block on the Rajkot Civil Hospital campus. A newly built nine-storey building in the New Civil hospital campus, meant for stem cell hospital, will now be used to treat suspected and positive cases of COVID-19. The hospital will also have emergency centre for coronavirus patients. The hospital with 250 beds and 15 ventilators will start functioning from Tuesday, said NCH sources.

In Vadodara, a similar facility is being planned at a medical college in the Gotri area. Officer on Special Duty to Vadodara, Vinod Rao, said, “We are exploring the possibility of developing an Infectious Disease Facility at the Gotri Medical College. If need be, Samras Hostel will be used for quarantine facility. We are also making a list of hospitals that are not fully occupied or not functional and hotels that are ready to spare rooms for quarantine facilities,” Rao said.

Testing labs

On Monday, a new testing facility was made operational in Vadodara, taking the number of such facilities in the state to five, including the ones in Ahmedabad, Jamnagar, Surat, Bhavnagar. “The ICMR has also allowed private labs, including four centres of Supratech and one of Apollo, to do the testing. Three more centres have been requested at SVP Hospital, Gujarat Biotechnology Research Center (GBRC) and one at Rajkot. For the Rajkot one, compliance has been completed and is expected to be operational in the next couple of days,” said Ravi.

Ventilators, equipment

Navsari BJP MP CR Patil announced Rs 1 crore from his MP’s grant to Surat District Collector and Rs 50 lakh to Navsari District Collector to purchase ventilators and medical equipment to fight COVID-19. Five patients tested positive and one died of coronavirus in Surat city. “I went to New Civil Hospital and came to know that there is shortage of equipment and ventilators… so I allotted Rs 1 crore grant and another Rs 50 lakh from my MPLAD funds to Navsari,” Patil said.

CM dashboard

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani interacted with COVID-19 patients and doctors treating them in the four municipal corporations of Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and Vadodara through video-conferencing from the CM Dashboard Command Control Centre in Gandhinagar. The CM enquired about their treatment and told the patients to be confident. Rupani requested them to observe self-isolation even after the recovery, according to a press release. Rupani also congratulated the doctors and other medical staff attending to the patients, risking their own life in these hours of crisis.