Anilkumar T By Express News Service KOCHI: The district administration, which took over the defunct PVS Memorial Hospital at Kaloor to convert it into a quarantine centre for suspected Covid-19 patients, has shortlisted 284 more hospitals in the district for the purpose.Major hospitals like Lakshmi Hospital, Apollo Hospitals at Angamaly and the closed-down Al Shifa Hospital at Edappally, besides other government hospitals, will be taken over if need arises. “At present, we have 300 ventilators ready to meet any crisis. Since ventilators are the most important equipment needed for treating Covid-positive patients, we are taking every effort to procure the maximum number of units,” said Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar, who is overseeing the initiatives to contain the Covid-19 outbreak in the district. He said beds in 284 hospitals have been arranged. The district administration is planning to identify nearly 10,000 beds in the district with adequate numbers of ICUs and ventilators. “We have set up a war room at the collectorate to coordinate the availability of ICU beds and ventilators and are in constant touch with all the identified hospitals through there. Information about any vacancy of beds or ventilators will be uploaded on the online platform. This will help in admitting patients by simply looking at the availability chart and also avoid any last-minute rush to find a ventilator,” Sunil Kumar said. He said some colleges and schools have been identified for setting up Covid care centres and they will be added to the database. “Just because we are taking the steps, it does not mean the number of patients will increase significantly. We are just preparing to deal with any situation. In this direction, we have started carrying out swab tests of patients admitted in private hospitals with fever and other diseases,” he said. PVS ready Minister Sunil Kumar said PVS Hospital was ready to house suspected Covid-19 patients. “All repairing works, including that of electricity and water, besides cleaning, are over,” he said.

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