Health Minister Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas said 37,000 beds are being prepared for COVID-19 patients and 62 lakh people have been given vaccines so far.
There was no shortage of oxygen and remdesivir injections, he told the media after taking stock of the situation at a meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) at APIIC headquarters in Mangalagiri on Wednesday.
Mr Srinivas said the state has a 60 COVID Care Center that treats people with mild symptoms, while admitting people with relatively severe conditions to hospitals.
Officials were instructed to ensure that there was no shortage of doctors and that patients were not suffering from drug shortages.
Private hospitals were allowed to increase the number of beds provided certain criteria were met. Regarding oxygen supply, Mr. Srinivas said the demand was nearly 240 tons per day last year. The central government recently allocated 420 tons to the state.
“The government is supplying injections of remdesivir to private hospitals and has taken steps to curb their black marketing, he added.
Toll-free phone number
The minister said patients would be taken to hospitals in 108 ambulances as far as possible, and the problems reported by those infected would be resolved through the call centers at toll-free 104.
He said a committee had been formed to investigate the death of a child and a half year old on the grounds of King George Hospital (KGH) in Visakhapatnam on April 27. The child died of COVID while waiting for hospital admission.
Ministers Botcha Satyanarayana, Buggana Rajendranath Reddy, Mekathoti Sucharitha and Seediri Appala Raju, Government Advisor (Public Affairs) Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy and DGP D. Gautam Sawang were among those present.