The Karnataka government, on Saturday, took a slew of decisions, including imposing total lockdown on Sundays starting July 5, in view of the spike in the number of coronavirus cases in the state.
It was also decided that there will be night curfew from 8pm to 5am, which will come into effect from Monday, according to an official statement.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa with the ministers and officials amid growing opposition outcry to impose stringent lockdown to contain COVID-19 cases in the state.
"Lockdown would be imposed every Sunday, with effect from July 5, 2020 until further orders. No activities shall be permitted on that day except essential services and supplies. All government offices shall remain closed on all Saturdays, along with second and fourth Saturdays with effect from July 10," the statement read.
It has also been decided to make more ambulances available to transport patients to hospitals. Separate ambulance will be arranged to carry bodies of the COVID-19 victims."Officials have been directed to centralise bed allocation system to ensure speedy hospitalisation of COVID-19 patients," said the statement.
In order to avoid overcrowding at grocery stores, the government has decided to open more wholesale vegetable markets across the city.
"Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) joint commissioners in eight regions across the city will be given additional responsibilities with Karnataka Administrative Service (KAS) officers to assist them and reduce the burden on the city civic commissioner and the BBMP's central office," said the statement.
Karnataka has witnessed a spike in COVID-19 cases in June. The total number of cases had crossed the 10,000-mark on Wednesday.
Bengaluru, which managed to keep its COVID-19 count surprisingly low during lockdown, reported as many as 596 new cases on Saturday, taking the total number of cases in the city to 2,531. The total number of deaths in Bengaluru has gone up to 84.
Hospitals notified
Meanwhile, in a bid to strengthen the health infrastructure, the government has asked 13 hospitals to set aside one of their branches for COVID-19 treatment. The hospitals notified include Apollo, Fortis, Narayana, Columbia Asia, Sagar, Sakra, Aster, Rainbow, Cloud 9, Jain, Vikram, People Tree and Satya Sai Super Specialty Hospital. On June 24, seven hospitals including, HCG, Sparsh and Manipal, were notified as dedicated COVID health centres (DCHCs) and COVID care centres (CCCs).
The government has also issued an order that said, “Fifty per cent of beds in private hospitals having facilities to treat COVID-19 patients shall be reserved for the treatment of patients referred by public health authorities.” This will include both HDU and ICU beds both with and without ventilator.
Patients referred by public health institutes to private healthcare providers are entitled to get free treatment. Government will reimburse the cost of treatment to private hospitals.
It may not be a good idea to rope in cancer hospitals for COVID-19 treatment, said Dr B.S. Ajai Kumar, founder chairman and CEO of HCG. “Cancer patients are immunosuppressed. We cannot be taking care of COVID patients because our cancer patients may get affected. Also, we are not experts in treating infectious diseases. COVID patients should be treated in multi-specialty hospitals,’’ he said.
Kumar said ideally the government should have consulted the concerned hospitals before passing this order . “While we want to support the government, it may be noted that the government hasn’t given any form of subsidy to private hospitals during these hard times. They don’t even try to understand the difficulties we are facing. We have been struggling to stay afloat, and yet the government hasn’t supported us with any stimulus. Even the money they owe us through ESI haven’t been paid. They haven’t even reduced the electricity charges. In the US, private hospitals are funded billions of dollars to sustain. Sometimes I regret that I returned to India,’’ said Kumar. “We have written multiple letters to the Central government expressing our concerns. We haven’t got any reply yet.’’
Kumar added that the hospital is committed to extend its support to the government in areas where it has expertise in. “We are there to help even though the government doesn’t support us much.”
(With PTI inputs)
