Coronavirus: Telangana government sets up 24x7 command control centre

The command control centre headed by Health Minister Etela Rajender will be operational from Thursday.
Coronavirus: Telangana government sets up 24x7 command control centre
Coronavirus: Telangana government sets up 24x7 command control centre

The Telangana government on Wednesday announced that they have set up a command control centre to handle the coronavirus crisis. The centre under the chairmanship of Health Minister Etela Rajender will be operational from Thursday. The centre will be set up in Koti, Hyderabad.

"This centre will be operational 24x7, and we will be monitoring the situation,"  Health Minister Etela Rajender said while addressing the media. Besides the Health Minister, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Commissioner of Public Health and Family Welfare will be part of the Command Control Centre. 

The minister also announced the formation of four committees-- hospital management committee; surveillance committee; information, communication and education committee; procurement committee--to handle the crisis. These committees will be headed by senior IAS officers. The names of the officers haven't been confirmed yet.

It must be recalled that the government has already set aside a budget of Rs 100 crore towards the coronavirus health crisis.

The minister also said that private hospitals which are capable of handling coronavirus patients can accommodate patients. "We spoke with the Centre and got permission from them. The private hospitals which are capable of taking in coronavirus patients, are free to do so. They can collect samples and send it to Gandhi Hospital for carrying out tests," the minister said.

The minister also said that around 22 private medical colleges have come forward to accommodate the suspected patients. “Yesterday (Tuesday) we sought help from them to accommodate the suspected patients, who have to be kept in isolation. But these colleges have said that they will provide all the amenities on par with the isolation wards in Gandhi Hospital.” 

The Telangana government has also urged the Centre to provide 50,000 H1N1 face masks.  

On Wednesday, four close relatives of the software employee who returned from Dubai, tested negative for the virus. 

Meanwhile, there were two cases of suspected coronavirus—an employee of the multinational company DSM and a sanitation worker in Apollo hospital — who came in contact with the techie who came from Dubai. The samples of these patients have been sent to the National Institute of Virology for confirmation. The reports are likely to come on Thursday.

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