Rourkela: Sundargarh district, which has become one of the COVID-19 hotspots in Odisha, has been found struggling to accommodate the patients due to acute shortage of beds.
The district, which has witnessed a sudden rise in COVID-19 patients for the last one week, reported 317 positive cases on Saturday and 355 and 224 cases on the previous two days.
Considering the rise in new cases, the administration had kept 34 beds reserved for COVID-19 patients at the privately-run JP Hospital and Research Centre Pvt Ltd in Rourkela, while the Rourkela Government Hospital (RGH) is equipped with 20 beds.
On Friday, as many as 64 COVID-19 patients were admitted in JP Hospital while all the beds in RGH were already occupied. The administration, which used to send critical patients to VIMSRA, Burla, found itself with a tough task task to take care of COVID patients.
The administration decided that JP Hospital would reserve 50 beds with ventilators and 30 general beds. Besides, a ward of the privately-run Shanti Memorial Hospital, Rourkela with 30 general beds would be utilised as dedicated Covid care centre (CCC). This apart, a 50-bed CCC will come up at NTPC Medical College and Hospital at Sundargarh town for both isolation as well as treatment of patients with mild symptoms, according to a TNIE report.
Chief district medical officer Dr SK Mishra said the administration has decided to enhance treatment and institutional facilities in view of the rising cases. Besides, steps are being taken to increase the testing from the present 750 samples soon.
