Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has approved the Health and Family Welfare Department’s proposal to increase the number of coronavirus tests as well as beds in COVID hospitals.
The approval came at a ministerial committee meeting presided by Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari on Thursday.
Following the meeting, Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das said since the Chief Minister has stressed on increasing COVID-19 tests to 15,000 per day, efforts will be made to allow private hospitals to conduct the tests too.
He informed that testing for COVID-19 will start at Santha Bhima Bhoi Medical College & Hospital in Balangir from May 16, Saheed Laxman Nayak Medical College and Hospital in Koraput from May 23 and Pandit Raghunath Murmu Medical College & Hospital in Baripada from May 31.
The minister also said that the state government will procure the necessary equipment through the Odisha State Medical Corportion Ltd (OSMCL) to increase the number of tests.