COVID-19 Spike: Hospital Beds In Odisha To Be Increased By Five Times This Year

Bhubaneswar: Considering the sudden and exponential rise in COVID-19 cases this year, the Odisha government has decided to increase the beds upto five times.

Informing this to the media on Sunday, Director, Public Health Niranjan Mishra said the district collectors have been asked to take necessary steps to ensure more beds in the COVID hospitals.

“The collectors have been asked to increase the beds in four categories i.e., general beds, beds with oxygen support, ICU beds and ICU beds with oxygen support,” he added.

Stating that as per the rules, 6 per cent of total beds will be ICU beds, Mishra said considering the pandemic situation in the state, the collectors have been asked to ensure more beds with oxygen support.

Referring to the admission of the patients in the COVID hospitals, he said the patients are now provided 25 per cent of the general beds and 60 per cent of the ICU beds. Out of 541 ICU beds, 329 beds are occupied while 18 per cent of the ventilators are being used for the treatment of 45 critical patients. Apart from this, there are also standby beds in these hospitals in case of emergency.

However, Mishra said considering the rate of the spike in COVID-19 cases this year, the requirement of oxygen cylinders will be 10 times more than what was needed during the peak time last year.