Maharashtra to provide free test, treatment to Covid-19 patients

State with highest numbers urges centre to provide test kits, PPE

geetanjali

Geetanjali Minhas | April 28, 2020 | Mumbai


#Maharashtra   #Mumbai   #relaxations   #lockdown   #healthcare   #epidemic   #coronavirus   #COVID-19   #Amit Deshmukh  
Maharashtra medical education minister Amit Deshmukh
Maharashtra medical education minister Amit Deshmukh

The Maharashtra government will provide free testing, treatment and meals to Covid-19 patients in civic and state government-run hospitals in the state.
 
With the number of Covid-19 cases increasing by the day in Maharashtra and with the cities of Mumbai and Pune being declared at red zones the GoM has started free testing and treatment of Covid-19 patients at all medical and dental colleges under the Directorate of Medical Education and Research, Ministry of Medical Education, GoM .
 
Announcing the measures being taken by the government to tackle coronavirus, state medical education minister Amit Deshmukh said that the number of testing labs in the state will soon increase to 60.
 
“Earlier there were only four labs for testing of Covid-19 across the state. Now there are 40 labs including private and government labs and soon the number of labs will increase to 60. Daily 7,000 tests are done in these 40 labs. Maharashtra has already done more than one lakh tests, which is the maximum in the country till date,” said Deshmukh.
 
Seeking the centre’s help to provide test kits and PPE he said that since the number of tests is increasing there is a corresponding need for more test kits which should be provided by the central government. “Though the state has a sufficient number of PPE kits and masks, to meet the growing demand the state government has already sought additional PPE kits and masks from the central government.”
 
Refuting the opposition’s allegations that the state government is suppressing patients’ numbers and terming them baseless, Deshmukh added that government hospitals in several districts including Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Nashik, Amravati, Yavatmal and Solapur are equipped with all the necessary machinery to fight against Covid-19.
 
Since there is no vaccine or medicine available for Covid-19 virus, the medical education minister appealed to the people to be extra cautious. He appealed to people to contact a doctor without any social fear in case they felt any of the virus symptoms. Deshmukh also said that the government has received several complaints especially from Mumbai and Pune regarding closure of dialysis in private clinics.
 
“Since many hospitals were taken over by the state for Covid-19 treatment it led to the low availability of dialysis services. The chief minister has already appealed to all private hospitals to continue dialysis on humanitarian grounds. The chief minister, deputy chief minister, revenue minister and the guardian ministers keeping an eye on ground situations are working 24 hours a day in coordination to fight the pandemic,” he said.
 
Meanwhile, as on April 27 Maharashtra has recorded the highest mortality with 337 deaths, followed by Gujarat at 137. Additionally, Maharashtra continues to witness the highest number of active cases in the country with 8,072 infections, followed by Gujarat at 3,295 and Delhi at 2,915. As of April 27, the rate of testing in India rests at 582.13 per million with a total of 7,87,575 tests recorded.

Comments

 

Other News

Climate actions being implemented to deal with impact of heat waves

India’s climate actions cut across various sectors and are being implemented through various programs and schemes of different union ministries, departments and state/ union territory governments.  The government of India through concerned ministries and departments organises workshops, exhibiti

Banks must hear borrowers before declaring their accounts as frauds: SC

In a judgment with far-reaching implications, the Supreme Court has held that the civil consequences of an account being declared as fraud under the Reserve Bank of India (Frauds Classification and Reporting by Commercial Banks and Select FIs) Directions, 2016 or its Master Directions on Fraud amount to ci

India’s forest cover increases by 5,516 sq km in four years

The Dehradun-based Forest Survey of India (FSI), an organization under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, carries out the assessment of forest cover biennially since 1987 and the findings are published in the India State of Forest Report (ISFR). As per the latest ISFR 2021, there is a

Steps taken to meet higher power demand of April-May

While the average growth of energy requirement in the country for 2023-24 viz-a-viz 2022-23 has been estimated as 4.9%, the months of April and May have been projected as high demand period. During the current year, the peak demand is expected to be around 229 GW during the summer period. The government ha

Millets to make comeback in army ration after half a century

As the UN has declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets, the Indian Army has steered introduction of millets flour in the rations of soldiers. This landmark decision will ensure troops are supplied with native and traditional grains after over half a century, when these were discontinued in favour

Central Bank Digital Currency has game-changing potential

When discussing digital currency, you might think of one or two well-known varieties. There is the digital representation of currency that you access with mobile and online banking services. This currency is the liability of a commercial bank. There is also cryptocurrency, a digital medium of exchange issu

Visionary Talk: Amitabh Gupta, Pune Police Commissioner with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now


Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook    Twitter    Google Plus    Linkedin    Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter