In view of the rise in coronavirus cases in Chhattisgarh, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has urged the Centre to sanction funds to the tune of Rs 736.74 crore for COVID-19 hospitals and care centres in the state, an official said on Saturday. In a letter to Union Health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, Baghel also sought to increase the capacity of ICU beds at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Raipur, the official from the public relations department.
“Chhattisgarh has 29 dedicated COVID-19 hospitals and 221 care centres, which have the capacity of 29,111 beds, of which 406 are ICU and 370 are high dependency units (HDU) beds,” the chief minister said in the letter. For these facilities, the state’s health and family welfare department had earlier sought Rs 821.93 crore from the Centre, but only Rs 85.19 crore has been sanctioned so far, he said. Baghel requested the Union minister to sanction the remaining amount of Rs 736.74 crore soon so that necessary resources can be arranged for in a timely manner, the official said.
Appreciating the role of AIIMS Raipur during the pandemic, the chief minister also said there is an urgent need to increase the number of ICU beds at the hospital from the current 54 to 200. Baghel has also urged the Centre to provide medical materials, which the state had asked for earlier to tackle the pandemic, the official said. As on Friday, Chhattisgarh had reported 58,643 COVID-19 cases, which includes 27,123 recoveries and 518 deaths.
