Madhya Pradesh manufacturing 10,000 PPE kits daily: Official

Madhya Pradesh has started manufacturing 10,000 personal protective equipment (PPE) kits daily for frontline warriors battling coronavirus, the state's Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Mohammed Suleman said on Saturday.

He said the treatment for COVID-19 is free in the state. "PPE kit is a very important thing. We ensured development of the PPE kit locally. We are making 10,000 PPE kits daily in a factory at Pithampur near Indore and providing them to our people. So far we have distributed one lakh PPE kits," he said while interacting with a group of Delhi-based journalists during a video-conference.

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Suleman said the state government has over 9.5 lakh of hydroxychloroquine tablets and adequate stock of N-95 masks. Twenty-five dedicated COVID 19 hospitals have been set up in Madhya Pradesh, besides 66 dedicated health centres and more than 400 COVID care centres, he said.

"We are utilising 28 per cent of the total capacity of isolation beds. We have sufficient spare capacity to treat people in case of any emergency. In the case of ICU beds, we are using 17 per cent of the overall capacity," Suleman said.

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The official said the state government has received 30,000 rapid diagnostic kits from the central government and they will be made available in Indore and other cities. "COVID treatment is free in Madhya Pradesh. Nobody would be charged a single penny. The Government of Madhya Pradesh will bear all the expenses and provide free of cost treatment to all," Suleman said. After 50 more people tested positive for coronavirus in Indore on Friday night, the number of COVID-19 cases in the state has climbed to 1,360, health officials said. So far, 69 people have died due to the infection in the state, the officials said on Saturday. With this, the number of coronavirus positive cases in Indore has gone up to 892.