VIJAYAWADA: Krishna district administration on Wednesday cancelled permissions given to five private COVID care centres in Vijayawada, as part of its safety audit check being conducted after the August 9 fire accident at Hotel Swarna Palace.
District Medical and Health Officer (DM&HO) I Ramesh told TNIE that the administration had permitted 15 private hospitals to offer treatment to those infected at care centres.
“During the inspection, we found that some hospitals, despite having permission, were yet to begin the treatment. These hospitals even told us that they are not in a position to maintain their Covid care centres,” he said.
Ramesh added that after the fire mishap at Hotel Swarna Palace, the administration has decided to verify if the private care centres have all the safety measures in place, as it aimed to reduce the load on the state Covid hospital in the city and Pinnamaneni Siddhartha Institute of Medical Sciences, Chinna Avutapalli.
Observing that only 50 per cent of beds at the private care centres were filled due to lack of manpower, he said: “A walk-in-interview was conducted to fill 155 vacant specialist doctor posts. However, none could be filled. Support of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has been sought.”
As the daily spike in cases in the district has reduced significantly, Ramesh said more private care centres in Vijayawada may get their licences revoked.
“We are in the process of identifying those private care centres that do not have fire safety measures in place. Their licences will be revoked as the recovery rate in the district has improved to 84 per cent.” On rumours that the hospitals were charging an exorbitant fee for the treatment, the DM&HO maintained that the centres whose licences were cancelled on Wednesday had not begun functioning.
12,397 patients recovered: Collector
Krishna collector A Md Imtiaz said the recovery rate in the district has improved to 88.78 per cent. Speaking at a review meeting in Nuzvid on Wednesday, he said 12,397 Covid patients have recovered from the disease, and the district has just 1,993 active cases. Health officials informed the collector that people with mild symptoms were being admitted to the Nuzvid government hospital, those above 60 years to Pinnamaneni Siddhartha Institute of Medical Sciences and severe cases to the state Covid hospital in Vijayawada.