Chandigarh: Punjab Principal Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) Hassan Lal on Saturday urged the private hospitals on board for COVID-19 treatment to defer the elective surgeries at least till April 30 to meet the rising demand for Covid beds.
Stating this while chairing a virtual meeting with private hospitals of the state for COVID-19 management, he directed all the private hospitals to charge at government fixed rates for the treatment and avoid overcharging. There are 213 private hospitals on board for the COVID-19 treatment in the state at present and the Government has provided 230 ventilators to private hospitals which should be used optimally.
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The Principal Secretary (Health) expressed concern about rising number of fatalities, specially while shifting the patients from L2 to L3 facilities and advised that referral should be made in time. He said that more than 20,000 doses of Remdisivir have been provided to Government and Private hospitals and these were available free of cost.
He further exhorted the hospitals to treat the patient at the level of which they have the facilities available and the patient should be referred to the appropriate level well in time, if they feel that the patient requires higher level of hospitalization.
Regarding the Covid Vaccine, Mr Hussan Lal advised that being a very precious item, its wastage should be avoided. He urged private hospitals to set-up COVID vaccination centers to facilitate vaccination. He further reiterated that Oxygen demand and supply must be communicated to the Civil Surgeon of the district so that in case of any additional requirement, the same could be made available from the appropriate source well in time.
He also expressed his concern about the Critical Care Specialists of Private hospitals not attending sessions being organised by Dr K K Talwar and advised the hospitals to ensure that their Critical Care Specialists must attend these webinars being coordinated by Dr Talwar.
Principal Secretary (Medical Education and Research) D K Tiwari stressed upon the need to increase the vaccination of the appropriate levels of eligible beneficiaries.
Punjab Medical Council President Dr A S Sekhon assured the Health Department that PMC shall work in close coordination with the private hospitals to ensure that they all follow the protocols and attend the webinars as well, and for this purpose districts shall be allocated to each Medical Council member, who shall coordinate Covid management and vaccination in the district.
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