The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday, September 24, gave approval to fill up vacancies in 14,200 posts across hospitals in the state. The vacancies across Primary Health Care Centers, medical colleges and teaching hospitals are expected to be filled through the drive. The Chief Minister's office has asked authorities to start the recruitment process in October and complete it by November 15.
The decision was taken during the review meeting held on the prevailing COVID-19 situation and the progress of the vaccination drive. The Chief Minister said that though the state government has constructed new hospitals, there is a lack of staff in the hospitals which has become a major concern. Jagan instructed officials to ensure there is no more staff crunch at hospitals in the state and has directed them to recruit more doctors and ensure the presence of alternative doctors if any doctor is on leave. He also directed officials to take measures to ensure the best medical quality services in government hospitals.
The Chief Minister instructed the officials to conduct a special vaccination drive in East Godavari, West Godavari and Krishna districts and recruit additional staff for the same. He instructed officials to continue the night curfew and also to implement restrictions in districts with high positivity rates. He said to expedite the vaccination process and also to review the progress of works of new teaching hospitals.
The officials informed the Chief Minister that there are 13,749 active cases across the state and the recovery rate is 98.60% and the positivity rate is 2.12 %. There are 2,787 patients being treated in hospitals and about 562 people at COVID-19 Care Centers. Officials said 91.33% of COVID-19 patients are in the network hospitals and 72.64% in private hospitals are being treated under Arogyasri. They said the positivity rate is less than 3% in 10 districts; less than 3 to 5 % in 2 districts and it’s more than 5% in 1 district.
Officials said that 20,964 oxygen concentrators and 27,311 D type oxygen cylinders were made available and added that oxygen pipeline works are completed in 128 hospitals.
The state government is setting up oxygen generation plants in 143 hospitals that have more than 50 beds. The task is expected to be completed by October 10. Officials informed the Chief Minister that 2,61,56,928 people were administered vaccines of which 1,34,96,579 received single-dose while 1,26,60,349 have been administered with two doses.