The Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA), which represents over 1,000 private hospitals in Karnataka, submitted its expert committee report to the health minister on Monday suggesting measures to prepare for the expected third Covid wave.
It cautioned the state government over its decision to reopen offline classes. Citing the examples of what has happened in Israel, the USA and South Korea after the resumption of physical classes, the association suggested the government revisit the decision to resume physical classes.
In a report released on Monday, PHANA stated that evidence is clear that it will be premature to open schools.
The report said a hub and spoke model of the supply chain should be created where oxygen cylinders are supplied to hospitals without delay.
It also suggested that every patient at home should be adopted by a Covid Care Centre and monitored through telemedicine.
The committee headed by Dr Hema Divakar, Consultant ObGyn and Medical Director, Divakars Speciality Hospital, Bengaluru, recommended a three-pronged strategy of vaccination advocacy, research-linked data documentation and effective training of healthcare workers, for the private hospitals in the state.
"We need to put in place systems to accurately record key indicators such as cases, hospitalisations, mortality, the infection rate, R0 (the number of new infections generated by each case), and seroprevalence in a timely manner," the report noted.
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