Mysuru steps up efforts to add more beds for Covid-19 patients

Mysuru: The surge in the number of Covid-19 cases in Mysuru has forced the district administration to pull all stops to ensure adequate number of beds to accommodate all patients. The delay in the setting up of many Covid Care Centres (CCCc) to house asymptomatic patients and those with mild symptoms has compelled the authorities concerned to make alternative arrangements, which includes increasing the number of beds for people testing positive for the novel coronavirus.
As of now, there are 750 beds across the CCCs in the district, while there are 350 at the designated Covid-19 hospitals. The number of active Covid-19 cases in Mysuru district now stands at 3,886, while 2,747 patients, after recovering from the infection, have been discharged thus far.
There are plans afoot to transform the Seth Mohandas Tulsidas Maternity Hospital on JLB Road in Lakshmipuram into a Covid-19 hospital, wherein 200 patients will be housed, and 150 beds have been arranged at the PKTB Hospital.
Dean and director of Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (MMCRI) Dr CP Nanjaraj said that hospitals would need to have adequate ventilators, oxygen supply, in addition to a well-equipped intensive care unit (ICU) for them to function efficiently in the capacity of a Covid-19 hospital. “We will ensure that the hospitals we have chosen will get the necessary facilities from the state and central governments,” Dr Nanjaraj said.
Mysuru district nodal officer for trauma care centre Neelana Gowda Patil told TOI that, at the behest of the district administration, they were preparing to turn the trauma centre at PKTB Hospital on KRS Road into a Covid-19 hospital. “All the work that was pending such as electrification, et al has been completed. We will be able to provide 200 patients for Covid-19 patients in two weeks,” she said.
She said that the hospital could house 40 patients in its ICU, and 16o more beds had been set up for Covid-19 patients in the four-storey structure.
Mysuru deputy commissioner Abhiram G Sankar has written to the state government seeking assistance in transforming the chosen healthcare institutions into Covid-19 hospitals.