Covid-19 treatment still a mirage in Karnataka's Kalaburagi villages

The medical facilities in villages plagued by Covid-19-19 infections have gone from bad to worse over the last two months.

The residents of Alanga village in Alanda taluk allege that the officials didn't permit them to open a quarantine centre at the government school by collecting contributions from the residents to check the spread of the Covid-19.

However, Aland Tahsildar Yallappa Subedar (who is also in charge of Afzalpur), said that the Covid-19 patients were not ready to shift to CCCs. He said that the chaos reported last time may be the reason. "Now, the centres have been opened in well-equipped buildings," he added.

Five ventilators at the taluk hospital in Afzalpur are lying idle in the absence of expert technicians. Though a Covid Care Centre (CCC) was opened at a BCM hostel in the taluk, the patients could not be shifted for a week as no doctor was deployed.

Even though Shahabad, Kalagi, Yadrami and Kamalapur were carved out as new taluks two years ago, the hospitals here have not been upgraded as taluk hospitals thus far. Hence, people are dependent on the nearby taluk hospitals or district hospital, GIMS and ESIC hospitals in Kalaburagi for treatment. Ambulances in some of the PHCs are not in good condition for emergency services.

Kurumayya, a resident of Hooda (B) village of Sedam taluk said the residents of the village were panicked when four people died in a single day. He said the vaccine had not been supplied on time nor village sanitised.

Kamalapur taluk's Mahagaon's Primary Health Centre medical officer Dr Vanishree Paga said that Covid-19 patients were being directed to Kalaburagi as non-Covid-19 patients were approaching the PHC seeking treatment.

The Covid-19 patients from rural areas have to be admitted either at GIMS or ESIC hospital based on bed availability. The patients are being sent to the GIMS from ESIC citing a lack of oxygen cylinders. The work on setting up a permanent oxygen unit at the ESIC is going on at a snail's pace.