Guwahati:
Assam is one of the few states which doesn't have a Covid-19 positive case, the state, however, is still preparing for potential challenges on a war footing.
The state has started developing upto 2,000 bed-large quarantine in its stadiums, while at the same time, it is working on a model of collaboration between the private and government hospitals in case a situation arises.
The government has decided to treat only coronavirus patients in three out of its seven government medical colleges, an arrangement that provides beds for the treatment of 5,000 patients.
The government has also floated urgent tenders for making five pre fabricated hospital with 300 beds each.
Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the government health infrastructure will be used only for coronavirus-related issue, while private hospitals will look after the general health care and will be paid by the government.
"From tommorrow, Guwahati medical collage will function exclusively as a COVID-19 hospital, apart from the Cancer and maternity and emergency wings. We will create 2,500 beds there. 36 private hospitals from Guwahati, they will now take care of all general patients who otherwise come to Guwahati medical college. We will pay the bills," Mr Sarma said.
"Within two days we will also make Dibrugarh and Silchar medical college will also be turned into exclusive corona hospital and the general medical patient load shifted to private hospitals," he added
The Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital in Guwahati is ready with 200 beds, while the Kamrup Rural District Hospital, in Solapur, is also ready with similar capacity.
The government will also start a seven-day dedicated training sessions for all the final year medical, paramedical, Ayurvedic and nursing students in the state from Saturday.
Further, the government has started work to turn Guwahati's Saru Sojai stadium into a 700 people quarantine.
It also plans to turn more stadiums into quarantine centres to take the capacity of its quarantine centres to upto 2,000.
