Bhubaneswar: In view of massive spike in COVID-19 cases in Odisha, the State Government has taken initiative to increase the number of beds for treatment of infectees in hospitals.

"The district collectors have been asked to focus on setting up healthcare infrastructure to deal with the worsening situation caused by rapid transmission of Coronavirus in second wave of the pandemic. The number of beds in hospitals will be increased 4 to 5-fold compared to last year," informed Dr Niranjan Mishra, Director of Public Health, Odisha.

He said that it is not possible to increase the number of intensive care (ICU) beds that much in a limited period of time. However, the number will be increased two-fold.

"We need rise in hospital beds in four categories such as general, oxygen support, ICU and ICU with ventilator. On an average 6% ICU beds required for COVID patients per 100 beds. In view of present COVID situation, we have decided to increase the oxygen support beds so that the COVID patients in critical condition can be admitted to the ICU," Dr Mishra said.

The number of ICU and High Dependency Unit (HDU) beds will be increased in phases as per requirement.

Currently, 25% COVID patients are admitted to the general bed and 60% are in the ICU. Of 248 beds, 45 patients are on the ventilator support. While there are 541 ICU beds available in hospitals, 329 patients are admitted to the beds. The remaining 212 ICU beds have been kept on standby in hospitals.