Lucknow, 12 April (HS) : In a stern warning, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has warned the officials to be on their toes to control the exponential spread of COVID-19 disease across the state.
Making it very clear that neither his government would impose another lockdown nor let the people die in misery, Yogi, in a high-level review meet on Monday, said, “It is the officials’ responsibility to ensure beforehand that there is no shortage of hospital beds for the patients in the state.”
Emphasising on testing, tracing and treatment, he said, “If needed, take over the private hospitals and medical colleges to overcome the shortcomings.”
Addressing the officials in the meeting, the CM said, “Our priority has to be the implementation of an effective strategy to stop the spread of COVID-19. We will have to fight the pandemic vigorously with full preparation, as there is no scope for any sort of negligence in this fight.”
Praising his government’s efforts to control the spread of the virus last year, he said, “Similar to the last year, we will have to fight this war with great strength. For the same, we will have to increase the beds in L2 (with oxygen facility) and L3 (with ventilators) hospitals in sufficient quantity.”
Expressing displeasure over the recovery rate in the private hospitals and labs below the prescribed rates, he said, “Nobody will be allowed to take advantage of the helplessness of the victims. It has to stop immediately. In case of providing incorrect or misleading information, harsh action will be taken.”
Yogi Adityanath has also instructed the officials to dedicate half of the 108 ambulance service for COVID-19 patients and the remaining half for non-COVID cases. He has set the response time for these ambulances at 15 minutes. He has laid emphasis on making the Integrated Command and Control Center the focal point of the entire fight and monitoring its activity one by one.
Private labs can also be taken over
CM Yogi has also directed the officials to ensure that there is no delay in the test report of the COVID-19 patients. He suggested to take help from private labs if needed, or completely take them over and pay them the required amount, but in no circumstances, the test report should be delayed.
He also pitched for the expansion of lab and testing capabilities. CM Yogi instructed the officials to increase the RT-PCR test capacity by 70 per cent.
