COVID-19: Ludhiana district admin directs pvt hospitals to enhance capacity, defer elective surgeries

Ludhiana (Punjab) [India], March 18 (ANI): The Ludhiana district administration has directed private hospitals to enhance the bed capacity and defer elective surgeries for the time being to ensure bed availability to critical COVID-19 patients to deal with the second coronavirus wave.
As per a statement, Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma and Commissioner of Police Rakesh Agrawal said that there is an immediate need to increase the bed capacity to deal with the second wave by ensuring quality treatment to the patients and reducing mortality.
In a meeting with private health institutions, the Deputy Commissioner and Commissioner of Police said that the next fortnight is 'crucial to contain pathogen immediately'.
"The bed capacity must be increased immediately as equal it was earlier to ensure every patient gets bed and best possible care. The priority is to take care of the old and vulnerable population with co-morbidities," the statement quoted the district administers.
They also appealed to the people to strictly adhere to masking, social distancing, and washing hands frequently.
They reiterated, "The district administration is fully equipped with resources and manpower to combat Covid-19 second wave. All eligible to get the COVID-19 jab must immediately get it to prevent the virus to spread further."
Punjab reported 2,387 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, informed the state health department on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Jalandhar District Collector Ghanshyam Thori and Ludhiana District Collector Varinder Sharna on Thursday imposed a night curfew in the respective districts from tonight. The curfew will remain imposed from 9 pm to 5 am until further orders.
With the fresh COVID-19 cases, the total number of cases in the state now stands at 2,05,418. (ANI)