The Karnataka government has ordered that certain private medical institutions will now become part of the fight against COVID-19 as fever clinics, in an order issued on Tuesday. This was done following a meeting between the heads of these institutions and the state government.
According to a government order on the same, there are 66 private medical hospitals and medical colleges in Bengaluru which will extend their facilities to deal with coronavirus patients. The order has been issued under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.
The private medical colleges and private hospitals which are notified have been instructed to work as fever clinics. They will also function as swab collection centres for people who come to these hospitals with symptoms. Such hospitals “should do the triaging of ILI & SARI cases to find COVID-19 suspected cases, draw the swabs as per the testing policy of the state government, use the software application meant for fever clinics and swab collection centres; and make the swabs available for transportation to the labs identified by the government,” the order stated.
Fever clinics offer support to people who have mild symptoms of COVID-19 such as fever, dry cough, and sore throat. Fever clinics can also prescribe medicines for those patients who are not seriously ill.
The order also stated that the hospital could charge a maximum of Rs 350 per sample collection from the patient. However, the bill for the COVID-19 test will be footed by the state government.
The hospitals which have been notified to start the COVID-19 services are:
KIMS Bangalore, BGS Global Medical College, St John's Medical College, Oxford Medical College, Akash Medical College, East Point Medical College, MS Ramaiah Medical College, Ambedkar Medical College, Sri Siddhartha Medical College, ESI Medical College, Bangalore, Vydehi Medical College, Sapthagiri Medical College, MVJ Medical College, Bhagawan JAIN Hospital, Apollo Hospitals, People Tree Hospitals, NRR Hospital, Baptist Hospitals, St.Philomena Hospital, St.Martha's Hospitals, CSI Hospital, RMV Hospitals, Tejas Nursing Homes, Sanjeevini Hospitals, Srinivasa hospital, Fortis Hospitals, Suguna Hospital, Apollo Hospitals, Bangalore, Brooke Field Hospital, Life Care Hospitals, Rajashekar Multispeciality Hospital, Theresa Hospital, Subbaiah Hospital, Mallya Hospital, Pristine Hospital & Research Centre, Santosh hospital, Fortis Hospital Cunningham Road, Sri Lakshmi Multispeciality Hospital, M S Ramaiah Memorial Hospital, Aster Hospital, Vasavi Hospital, Astra Super Speciality Hospital, Sakra Hospitals, Narayana Hrudayalaya, Apollo Hospitals Sheshadripuram, Columbia Asia Hospital Yeshwanthpur, Columbia Asia Hospital Whitefield, Columbia Asia Hospital Hebbal, Columbia Asia Hospital Doddaballapur, Manipal Hospitals Kodihalli, Manipal Hospitals Malleswaram, Republic Hospital, Fortis Hospital Bannerghatta Main Road, Sagar Hospitals, Mallige Medical Center Gandhinagar, P D Hinduja Sindh Hospital, Sita Bhateja Speciality Hospital, The Bengaluru Hospital, Agadi Hospital & Research Center, Jeevika Hospitals (P) LTD, Amar Jyothi Nursing Home, Deepa Hospital, ASTER RV Hospital, Jupiter Hospital, and Sagar Hospitals.
Further details about these hospitals including addresses and contact persons may be found here.
This order comes from the government even as Bengaluru has seen an alarming surge in the number of COVID-19 patients showing Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) and Influenza Like Illness (ILI) in the past few days. The Tuesday evening bulletin noted that Bengaluru has 996 active cases of COVID-19, while a total of 1,505 people have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the city.