Mangaluru: Deputy chief minister C N Ashwath Narayan has agreed to sanction 25,000 rapid antigen test kits for Dakshina Kannada.
The minister said this while interacting with district minister Kota Shrinivas Poojari, MLAs D Vedavyas Kamath, Harish Punja and U T Khader, and officials of the district on Friday, via video conference.
“As per the requests from the minister and MLAs, rapid antigen test kits and 15 ambulances will be sanctioned for Dakshina Kannada, immediately. People need not worry about the increased cost of the Covid-19 test as the rapid antigen test will be done for free. The government will also bear the expenses of Covid-19 patients, who are admitted to their nearest private hospitals in case of emergency,” he said, and directed officials to increase the number of beds with oxygen facility in all government hospitals in the district.
When officials said that Wenlock Hospital has only 150 beds equipped with oxygen, the minister directed that a proposal be submitted to increase the number of such beds to 450, immediately.
He also directed the district administration to enter into an agreement with eight medical colleges in the district, and reserve sufficient number of beds for Covid-19 patients.
“The entire treatment of Covid-19 patients will be free in private hospitals if they are referred there by government hospitals. The district administration should introduce a dashboard displaying the availability of beds in various hospitals in the district. No patient should be denied treatment just because of non-availability of beds. A centralised reporting system should be introduced for this purpose,” the minister said.
Helpline started
The Dakshina Kannada district administration started a helpline on Friday for Covid-19 patients, who are home quarantined in the district. Helplines have been set up in all the urban local bodies, said deputy commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh.
“The government has allowed asymptomatic Covid-19 patients to remain isolated in their homes. We have started helplines in Bantwal, Ullal, Someshwara, Sullia, Puttur, and Moodbidri. These helplines will monitor all asymptomatic patients, who are under home isolation in the district. They will be given support, guidance and information on their health, and will be connected to the authorities on a real-time basis,” she said.
Gayathri Nayak, project director, district development cell, said teams of officials from the respective local bodies, along with doctors, will interact with all asymptomatic Covid-19 patients through video calls.