Keonjhar: The state government Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Utkal Hospital Pvt Ltd, to set up a special coronavirus hospital in Keonjhar to treat COVID-19 patients.
The MoU was signed by district magistrate Ashish Thakre, CEO of Utkal Hospital Pvt Ltd Syed Kamran Hussain and chief district medical officer Dr Ashok Kumar Das.
The dedicated hospital will have 200 beds including a 10-bed ICU equipped with ventilators. 24-hour diagnostics, pharmacies, kitchens etc. will also be provided. Doctors, nurses and other staff will be deployed to provide 24-hour patient care.
To fight against COVID-19, seven special COVID-19 hospitals with 1547 bed capacity have so far been made functional in the state. These include Ashwini Hospital in Cuttack, Tata Hospital at Duburi in Jajpur District, Tata Hospital at Joda in Keonjhar District, KIMS (Bhubaneswar) and SUM (Bhubaneswar) in Khordha district, ID Hospital in Puri and Hi-Tech Medical College (Rourkela) in Sundargarh District.
Meanwhile, MKCG (Berhampur) and VIMSAR (Burla) are being equipped for COVID-19 testing. It is expected that ICMR approval for the testing facility in above two institutions will be received shortly.
The state government is also providing training to MBBS students, faculties, health department officials, district and block level master trainers to empower health services in COVID-19 containment.
PNN