The Karnataka’s COVID Task Force has approved Rs 1,500 crore plan to upgrade 149 taluk hospitals and 19 district hospitals in the state barring Bengaluru city.
This upgradation plan has been fixed with maximum timelines of three months.
The government also intends to provide maximum health facilities at the taluk level itself and create up to 97 percent of health services in district headquarters. Out of the estimated Rs 1,500 crore, around Rs 800 crore will be needed for infrastructure, and the remaining Rs 600-700 crore is needed towards salary expenses which will be recurring every year.
This upgradation will require the appointment of about 4,000 doctors, two-three nurses per each doctor and other staff. Diagnostic facilities will also be augmented across the state correspondingly.
District hospitals will have a minimum of 100 beds all oxygenated (25 ICU with ventilators, 25 HDU beds, 50 normal oxygenated beds) and taluk hospitals will have a minimum of 25 oxygenated beds.
As per the National Skill Commission’s decision, six skills have been listed under COVID management support skills, and in Karnataka, 5,000 members who have passed class 10 and 12 are planned for this programme.
They will be given training for three months and a stipend of Rs 5,000 per month will be paid for each trainee. There is a huge demand for these verticals and they are required in 108 ambulance services, basic life-supporting hospitals and nursing assistants.