Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday asked officials of both private and state government hospitals to increase the number of Covid beds. She also asked them to open more satellite units where Covid patients with mild symptoms can be admitted, some of those who attended the online meeting told Metro.
Mamata asked senior state government officials to ensure that there was no scarcity of oxygen in the state. Officials will have to ensure that no one hoards oxygen or sells it at a higher price.
The state government on Wednesday identified several crucial areas of Covid management like facilitation of hospitals admission, availability of ambulances, bed augmentation in hospitals, creation of new satellite facilities and funerals. Senior government officials have been entrusted with ensuring that all these facilities are rolled out and work smoothly.
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The state government is considering taking the Covid-19 vaccination drive to big housing complexes and corporate houses so that more people can be inoculated against the disease that is spreading much faster than it did at the peak of the epidemic last year.
The state health department on Monday met representatives of several private hospitals to discuss how off-site vaccination could be done in Calcutta.
Till now in Bengal, Covid-19 vaccines are given only at designated hospitals and clinics, including those run by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation and other civic bodies.
Private hospitals as well as the health department are flooded with requests from big residential complexes and corporate houses to conduct vaccination on their premises.
Several private hospitals were filled with vaccine recipients in the 45 years to 59 years category on Saturday, most of them using the holiday to get themselves vaccinated. Hospitals expect a rush on Sunday too.
Officials in the hospitals said they witnessed a sharp spike in the total vaccination numbers compared to the last few days, primarily because of a large number of office-goers taking the jab on Saturday.
Peerless Hospital vaccinated 391 people on Saturday, with 223 of them in the 45 to 59 group.
Belle Vue Clinic vaccinated 380 people, 190 of who were below 60. AMRI Hospitals vaccinated 900 people, with nearly 630 of them in the below 60 group.