COVID-19: Odisha to set up two special COVID-19 hospitals with

Keeping in view the possible emergencies in wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak in the country, the Odisha government on Thursday signed agreements with private hospital medical to set up two large COVID-19 hospitals in the state capital.

The new COVID-19 hospitals are likely to come up by April 15, an official said adding that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has directed to provide state-of-the-art facilities for treatment of COVID-19 patients.

The state government signed two tripartite agreements with SUM and KIIMS Medical Colleges to set up 1,000 bedded state level hospitals in Bhubaneswar for treatment of COVID-19 patients.

SUM Hospital has agreed to create a 500-bed COVID-19 hospital with 20 ICUs, while KIIMs Hospital will have 450 beds.

These hospitals will have the facility for Covid 19 treatment.

The state-run Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and Central PSU Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) will provide the CSR funding for the purpose.

The first agreement signed by the state government was represented by Health Secretary NB Dhal, MD of OMC, Vyneel Krishna and KIIMS Management to set up a 450-bed hospital.

The second agreement was signed by Dhal, S S Panda of MCL and SUM Hospital Management to set up a 500-bed hospital aln with ICU facilities.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik congratulated the partners and thanked OMC and MCL for coming forward in the interest of the people of the state.

According to official sources, the state government feels that the facilities available in the state were inadequate to handle the highly infectious disease like COVID-19.

Even developed countries such as Italy and USA having matured healthcare systems, have found it difficult to respond to this unprecedented crisis, the official said.

The global experience shows that COVID-19 patients need to be put under observation and treated in a separate hospital instead of a general hospital in order to minimise the chance of transmission to others, he said.

The chief minister has also directed the health department to set up similar facilities for COVID-19 cases in other parts of the state.

The state government currently has provisions for suspected COVID-19 patients in all the state-run medical colleges and 30 district headquarters hospitals.

This apart, the state has also developed special quarantine facilities in above 6,000 gram panchayats across the state.