350 Complaints Filed Against 170 Private Hospitals

A report submitted by Telangana Director of Public Health Dr G Srinivas Rao to the state's high court revealed that the government had received a total of 350 complaints against 170 private hospitals of the state.

The report also revealed that the government had so far resolved 30 of the complaints and forced the managements of various hospitals of the state to return a total of Rs 72.20 lakh to Covid-19 patients who had been forced to pay outrageously high treatment charges as part of the steps being taken to "do justice to the patients".

Talking about the current testing rate in Telangana, Rao stated that an average of 1.17 lakh Covid-19 tests were being performed on a daily basis in the state. He noted that the positivity rate had come down by 1%.

He also claimed that the vaccination process was proceeding in a satisfactory manner, and pointed out that while 28.76 lakh people of the state had received both doses of the vaccine so far and 68.64 lakh people had taken the first dose, a total of 1.94 crore people were yet to be vaccinated.

Addressing the matter of vaccine supply, the senior health official said that it was expected that 10.76 lakh vaccine doses would be given to the state by the Centre by June 29.

Besides this, Rao assured the HC that the government was taking all the steps necessary to handle a third wave of the pandemic. He informed the court that out of a total of 27,141 beds available at government hospitals, 10,224 were beds with oxygen support facilities, and that efforts were currently underway to equip the remaining 16,914 beds with oxygen support as well.

The health director then outlined the preparations being made at the paediatric healthcare facilities in the state as part of the plan to tackle the third wave. He revealed that 6,000 beds had been readied at hospitals like the Nilofer Hospital for the children of the state, and that a committee of paediatricians had been constituted for the purpose of safeguarding children's health.