Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday announced that all the frontline healthcare workers including outsourced workers fighting COVID-19 would continue to receive the 10% additional pay as incentive. Similarly, incentives would be extended for the police and sanitation workers under the municipal and gram panchayats.
These incentives have been given to the frontline workers since April as a gesture to thank the medical staff for their selfless service.
The government also announced that it would implement University Grants Commission (UGC) pay scales to the teachers working in medical colleges. The newly appointed nurses will also get their pay on par with their old counterparts. The retirement age of those working in the Ayush department has been increased to 65 years, KCR said.
These decisions were taken after the Chief Minister held a high-level meeting with Health Minister Eatala Rajender, Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Principal Secretary (Medical and Health) Murtaza Rizvi and others.
Further, the CM directed that all the 1200 doctors who completed their post-graduation should be immediately hired for government service. The 200 vacant doctor posts in the Primary Health Care (PHC) centres should also be filled immediately, he said.
KCR, meanwhile, also warned the private hospitals of action if they resort to artificial shortage of beds. “Private hospitals should maintain transparency in the availability of beds. The government will act strictly if an artificial shortage is created. Display at every hospital on how many beds they have and how many are occupied? Give information to the government from time to time,” he said.
Talking about the government’s preparedness, KCR said that the state has gathered all the necessary equipment, medicines and tools to battle the crisis.
“Now there is no shortage of anything. In Gandhi and TIMS hospitals, 3000 beds are ready with oxygen facilities in Hyderabad alone. All over the state, 5000 beds were kept ready with the oxygen supply facility. In all, 10,000 beds are kept ready exclusively for the corona patients. Such a number of beds were not there in the past. 1500 ventilators were kept ready. PPE kits and N95 masks are available in numbers,” KCR said.
The CM added that there is no shortage of medicines or equipment.
Responding to the allegations of poor services in government hospitals, he said that the government doctors and staff are rendering yeoman service.
Appealing to people against visiting private hospitals for treatment, he said, “The best treatment is given in the government hospitals based on the guidelines issued by the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research). In case anyone has symptoms, they should take medical advice and treatment. In our state, right from the PHC level, facilities are created to treat the corona patients. People should utilise this. The government is ready to spend any amount of money to contain the virus and give treatment to the needy.”
The CM said that the government has allocated an additional Rs 100 crore to the general budget to take up urgent measures to contain the virus and to give treatment.