Set up special wards for Covid: Health ministry tells central ministries, PSUs
The Union health ministry advises all central ministries to issue instructions to the hospitals under their control or their PSUs to set up dedicated hospital wards or separate blocks within the hospitals for Covid care and share details of such hospitals in public domain.
The Union health and family welfare ministry on Friday advised all central ministries to issue instructions to the hospitals under their control or their public sector undertakings (PSU) to set-up exclusive dedicated hospital wards or separate blocks within the hospitals for Covid Care, as was done last year.
The advisory said these hospitals should have separate entry and exit points for the management and treatment of Covid-19 cases.
"Additionally, these dedicated hospital wards or blocks have to be equipped to provide all supportive and ancillary services including oxygen-supported beds, ICU beds, ventilators and specialised Critical Care Units (wherever available), laboratory services, imaging services, kitchen, laundry etc., along with dedicated health work force," the Centre said.
The health ministry further said that these wards will have to be equipped to provide all supportive and ancillary services, including oxygen-supported beds, ICU beds, ventilators and specialised critical care units among other facilities.
The move follows after states and Union territories across the country have been reporting a surge in coronavirus disease cases and related deaths since the past few weeks.
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In the letter to the central ministries, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan reiterated that the present situation related to coronavirus infection spread across the country calls for similar supportive action as last year.
Meanwhile, India extended its record daily run of new Covid-19 infections on Friday, with 217,353 fresh cases, according to the Union health ministry. This marks the eighth record daily increase in the last nine days and took total cases to nearly 14.3 million.
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India's case count is second only to the United States, which has reported more than 31 million infections. The Covid-19 death toll in India rose by 1,185 over the past 24 hours — the highest single-day rise in seven months — to reach a total of 174,308, the health ministry reported.
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