About a lakh patients might be affected in third wave

Aurangabad, July 28:

Divisional commissioner Sunil Kendrekar has recently set up a special core team of six deputy commissioners to plan for the possibility of wide spread of infection in the third wave of coronavirus in Marathwada.

In the last week of April 2021, 77,442 patients were found in the department on the same day. Taking into consideration the opinion of the experts and the government that the number could be one and half times more in the third wave, health facilities are being planned at the highest level. The administration has also started planning in this direction. Deputy commissioners Parag Somani, Vina Supekar, Jagdish Miniyar, Avinash Pathak, Shivaji Shinde and Rashmi Khandekar are in the team.

The team will review the health facilities in the entire district and work to address the shortcomings. The team inspected Aurangabad and Jalna districts in two days. In the next few days, the team will visit all districts in the division to take review of the medicines, health facilities, neonatal treatment, covid care centre for children, training of doctors, nurses and stock of oxygen cylinders. Information about the administration's preparation has been sent to the government.

Priority will be given to availability of beds and oxygen supply. As per prediction by the experts, the number of affected could be much more in the third wave. If one lakh patients are found in the division, the district wise infrastructure should be capable of handling the numbers. The team is also reviewing the shortfalls.