Telangana govt hospitals gear up for Covid mock drill

The mock drill, which was suggested by the union Health Ministry, will be taken up at all government hospitals which were involved in treating Covid patients in the last three Covid waves.

Hyderabad: Government hospitals in Hyderabad and the districts will take part in a special mock drill being organised to take stock of the preparedness, in case of a surge of Covid infections in the coming months.

The mock drill, which was suggested by the union Health Ministry, will be taken up at all government hospitals which were involved in treating Covid patients in the last three Covid waves.

In Hyderabad, the mock drill will be conducted at Gandhi Hospital, District Hospital in King Koti, Chest Hospital at Erragadda and Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (TIMS) at Gachibowli. “It will be a stock-taking exercise for us. Our healthcare workers have vast experience in handling Covid patients. In fact, we were the first to successfully treat Covid patients in Telangana. All the necessary medical equipment, including ventilators, beds with supply of medical oxygen, BiPAP machines and RT-PCR testing capabilities of our laboratories will be checked,” Gandhi Hospital Superintendent Dr M Raja Rao said.

Apart from medical infrastructure, the hospitals will also focus on healthcare workers, including nurses, ASHA workers and ventilator technicians, who earlier had received training in handling Covid cases and played a vital role in the three successive waves in Telangana.

“All aspects of treating Covid patients, including medical oxygen, essential drugs, ventilators, trained healthcare staff, checking oxygen-generating plants and bed capacity, among others, will be reviewed. Essentially, the exercise will be aimed at readying our hospital to treat Covid patients,” Chest Hospital Superintendent Dr Mahaboob Khan said.

Senior health officials said similar mock drills will be conducted at all tertiary government teaching hospitals, paediatric healthcare facilities and district hospitals in Telangana on Tuesday.