Reportedly amid looming fears of coronavirus infection entering the community transmission stage, india is boosting its overall health infrastructure by initiating measures like designating dedicated hospitals for affected patients in states, ramping up procurement of ventilators and mobilising resources of Railways and armed forces to deal with any eventuality. As of now, the country reported 4173 coronavirus cases and 119 deaths.
Even though the health Ministry and the indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have been insisting that there is "no solid evidence" of community transmission so far, the government has started scaling up health infrastructure to deal with any situation.In an urgent communication, the Centre has asked all states to earmark hospitals only for treating COVID-19 patients and ramp up their capacity to manage increasing number of cases.At least 17 states have started work on it.
The armed forces are keeping ready 28 service hospitals to provide treatment to Covid-19 patients apart from five hospitals which are carrying laboratory tests for the infection. Defence public sector undertaking Bharat Electronics Limited has been tasked with manufacturing ventilators while premier defence research laboratory Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is producing protective gears for medical personnel and supplying hand sanitisers and face masks to various agencies involved in patient care. Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) has been asked to supply 30,000 additional ventilators in one-two months to address the shortage of ventilators in the country.
