Chief Minister Interacts With Representatives of Private Hospitals, All Hospitals Should Provide Treatment With Main Objective of Saving Life – Chief Minister

Jaipur, 20 November. Chief Minister Shri Ashok Gehlot said that all hospitals and medical personnel in the State should provide treatment with utmost care keeping the aim of saving life during the time of COVID-19 pandemic. He said that the Private Hospitals fulfilling the social, moral and professional obligations should provide health services at the prescribed rates as per the directions of the Supreme Court and the government guidelines. He said, “In this tough situation, our main objective is to save life, not to earn profit.” 

Shri Gehlot interacted with the representatives of private hospitals on COVID-19 through a video conference from his official residence on Friday. All Divisional Commissioners, District Collectors, Principals of Medical Colleges, Chief Medical & Health Officers and Principal Medical Officers joined the video conference. In the two and a half hour video conference, the Chief Minister interacted with representatives of various hospitals and discussed expanding medical facilities and to make the management of COVID-19 more effective. 

The Chief Minister said that it becomes easy to face any challenge with better coordination of the private and public sector. So far, COVID-19 has been managed excellently in the State with the help of the private sector and patients could get timely treatment. He said that for the last few days, the positive cases are increasing due to cold, festive season and other reasons and there is an increase in the number of serious patients. Looking at this, it is necessary to increase the number of oxygen and ICU beds. The State Government is continuously expanding the medical facilities at the Government Hospitals. The private hospitals should also increase the number of beds, so that no COVID patient is deprived of treatment. 

The Chief Minister said, “It has been the tradition of Rajasthan to work together at the time of crisis. We have roped in every section including public representatives, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, social workers and voluntary organisations in this fight.” He said that steps taken such as enacting law to wear masks and banning firecrackers have yielded positive results. Awareness among people has increased. 

Shri Gehlot said that disease does not see village-city, religion-caste or common-special, so no one should take this disease lightly. There have been deaths in villages also due to this pandemic. Looking at this, people in villages should be made aware to follow the health protocol, for timely check-up and treatment by being alert. He said that infection increases in many patients on not reaching hospital on time and even leads to death. 

The Chief Minister said that the State Government has provided oximeters to medical personnel up to the level of ANM to check the oxygen level. Now oximeters are being given to ASHA Sahayoginis, so that people in villages and hamlets could get the facility of checking the oxygen level and they could avoid the danger of this pandemic. He said that efforts are being made to start Post-COVID Clinic in every district to diagnose health problems in people who have turned negative. 

Shri Gehlot said that the State Government has appointed nodal officers for the coordination with the private hospitals so that COVID patients do not have any inconvenience in treatment. Representatives of private hospitals coordinating with these nodal officers can also apprise about the problems being faced in hospitals. The treatment arrangements can be further improved based on their feedback. The Chief Minister said that the State Government is keeping complete transparency in the COVID related data because life is not saved by hiding the figures. He said that transparency in data should be maintained at every level in future too. 

Chief Secretary Shri Niranjan Arya said that medical facilities are being continuously expanded in the State. Medical infrastructures are constantly being strengthened and 2,000 doctors have been selected who will soon start giving their services. Besides this, Community Health Officers will also be selected soon, he added. 

Health Secretary Shri Siddharth Mahajan said that there are more than 12,000 oxygen beds available in the State for the treatment of COVID patients and has the capacity to supply 26,000 oxygen cylinders daily, whereas at present there is need for only around 12,000 cylinders. He said that the private hospitals should increase the COVID beds from 30% to 40% looking at the increasing cases and later on, will have to change non-COVID beds to COVID-beds if required. He said that the State Government has started the selection process of Community Health Workers and 84,000 applications have been received. Their database will be provided to the private hospitals, so that they can take their services as per requirement. 

Rajasthan University of Health Sciences Vice Chancellor Dr Raja Babu Panwar said that private hospitals should increase their capacity looking at the COVID. They should also start post-COVID clinic. 

SMS Medical College Principal Dr Sudhir Bhandari said that if infection is found in lungs in CT Scan despite RT-PCR test being negative or there are any other symptoms of corona then such patients should be treated based on the COVID protocol. Besides this, the facility of COVID testing is available for 24 hours for the common public at ILI Clinic. Everyday around 700 people are being tested here. He said that 10 research teams are working to continuously update the COVID-19 medical protocol. The number of beds in government sector for COVID patients in Jaipur has reached 1700. 

Health Expert Dr Virendra Singh said that it is the time for medical professionals to show their commitment as a soldier during the period of corona. All medical personnel should save the lives of people by giving their services with complete dedication.

Representatives of private hospitals in the video conference praised the efforts made by the State Government in managing COVID. They said that private hospitals will extend all possible assistance to the State Government to deal with this challenge. Secretary Medical Education Shri Vaibhav Galria and Commissioner Information & Public Relations Shri Mahendra Soni too attended the meeting.