The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will coordinate with the state health department to provide “pre-booked” beds in Covid hospitals for patients who test positive for Covid-19 while undergoing treatment for other ailments at nursing homes or hospitals.

The KMC is also to visit door to door to identify persons with co-morbidities so their names can be put in the priority list during swab sample collection.

The decision that was made at a meeting presided by home secretary and KMC’s nodal officer for tackling Covid, Mr Alapan Bandopadhyay (in photo), is to ensure that patients who are already admitted in a non-Covid hospital, and have tested positive for the virus while undergoing treatment for some other ailment, are not left to fend for themselves while searching for beds in hospitals designated for Covid treatment.

Cases have surfaced where families of patients had to run from pillar to post to look for a bed in Covid hospitals to transfer the patient there for treatment.

Mr Bandopadhyay today said, “The state health department is in talks with private medical facilities to implement the decision. If a person who is admitted in any hospital or nursing home for non-Covid treatment, tests Covid-19 positive, then they must not panic and make hasty decisions but call up the state health department or KMC on the contact numbers that were provided. Thereafter, we will make all arrangements for bed in a Covid hospital and subsequently transfer the patient.”

He added, “The private hospitals, where the patient is admitted and needs to be transferred to a Covid hospital, need to contact the toll free number of Swasthya Bhawan or the KMC control room to avail the ambulance service.”

The health department has arranged for 155 ambulances while KMC has arranged 30 more, informed Mr Bandopadhyay. The ambulances have been installed with GPS trackers to monitor their movements ensuring patients are carried to the destination safely on time.

The important contact numbers are-the Covid helpline 1800313444222, ambulance service 033 4090-2929 and the Whatsapp number 9830037493.

Meanwhile, member of the state government’s Covid global advisory committee, Dr Abhijit Chowdhury, today held a meeting with medical officers of total 70 wards of the KMC.

Mr Atin Ghosh, KMC board member in charge of health, said, “ It was decided in the meeting that KMC health workers will now visit door to door to collect information of persons who have co-morbidities, or ones suffering from Covid-19 and other diseases, simultaneously. This information will be compiled into a list and during swab collection drives, these patients will be on the priority list.”