Hyderabad: Telangana state IT and industries minister KT Rama Rao on Saturday inaugurated the a 10-bed intensive care unit (ICU) programme along with Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures. The first 10-bed ICU has been initiated from the Narayanpet district of Telangana, and 28 other district/area hospitals in the state are next where 300 ICU beds will be set up, added KTR.
“After the formation of Telangana, CM KCR has given priority to improving healthcare infrastructure In the last seven years, Telangana Govt has added over 1600 ICU beds in districts apart from setting up 5 new medical colleges, while another 7 medical colleges are in the pipeline,” KTR tweeted after the 10-bed ICU was inaugurated. He also offered compliments to Vinod Khosla for announcing that he would fund 10 bed ICUs in 100 hospitals across India.
A day earlier, the state IT minister inaugurated 150 new beds at the state-run Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (TIMS), which were donated by HYSEA. KTR, during his address, also said that that universal vaccination for everybody is the only solution to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
KTR also appealed to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government to procure vaccines “from anywhere”. Emphasising that vaccines are “the only way out”, he asked the centre to procure the vaccines from countries which are sitting on huge stockpiles of unused COVID-19 vaccines.
“I have spoken with different companies, and my information suggests that four countries including the US, Norway, Denmark and Canada are sitting on an unused stockpile of nearly 50 crore COVID-19 vaccines, that are manufactured by AstraZeneca. What is stopping the Centre from opening communication with these countries and procuring vaccines for Indians?” KTR asked.
KTR on Friday added that the Centre must also rollout measures to procure COVID-19 vaccines and establish a distribution line for states.