Coronavirus cases: Madhya Pradesh government orders to set up ICU beds for kids

Bhopal, May 10: Amid the surge in COVID-19 cases in Madhya Pradesh, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government has decided to set up as mnay as 360 ICU beds for children in hospitals to prep for the possible third wave of coronavirus infections that is likely to affect the children more.

According to reports, Madhya Pradesh Medical Education Minister Vishwas Kailash Sarang on May 9 interacted with deans and hospital superintendents of various government medical colleges and officials to review the preparations that need to be put in place to tackle the third wave.

"We deliberated on provisions to be made for dealing with the possible third wave of COVID-19 and since it could affect children, we will be setting up 360 ICU beds for kids in various medical colleges of the state," Sarang told reporters.

Saran informed that a 50-bed dedicated ICU (Intensive Care Unit) will be set up in Bhopal's Hamidia Hospital. The MP minister said that 1,000 oxygen concentrators will be made available in 13 government medical colleges.

As many as 1,267 beds, including 767 ICU/HDU (high dependency units) beds will be set up in state-run hospitals in the first phase of preparation for the third wave of COVID-19, Sarang said.

Madhya Pradesh on May 9 registered 11,051 fresh Covid-19 cases, pushing the overall caseload to 6,71,763. With 86 more patients succumbing to the deadly contagious virus, the fatality count increased to 6,420.