The Bengal government has ordered a slew of measures to ramp up medical infrastructure to deal with a possible outbreak of the corona pandemic in the state.

The state government is planning to designate the entire 2,200-bed Kolkata Medical College Hospital (KMCH) as the primary hospice for treating Covid-19 affected people.

The hospital authorities have been asked to draw up a plan to shift existing patients, including those in critical care, to other government hospitals in the city. There are approximately 1,350 patients admitted to various wards of the hospital at present.

The number of beds at the KMCH can be ramped up to 3,000. There are currently 90 beds in the hospital’s critical care unit and 70 in the high dependency unit.

The newly constructed 500-bed campus at Rajarhat of a cancer hospital in the city is also being readied as an exclusive facility for treating Covid-19 positive patients, apart from a 150-bed facility at the existing M R Bangur Hospital.

State health officials fear a sudden rise in the number of Covid-19 positive cases given the fact that the seven already detected cases had come in contact with hundreds of others before being quarantined for treatment at hospitals.

The state government is also requisitioning indoor stadia, community halls and flood relief shelters all over the state to serve as quarantine facilities for those with symptoms of coronavirus infection.

The results of the intensive survey that all civic bodies in the state were asked to undertake last week to detect people displaying symptoms like cold and cough, fever and sore throat are expected to reach the state health department in a couple of days.

The civic bodies concentrated on localities where people who have returned from other countries and the worst-affected states of the country like Maharashtra since January this year are residing. Based on that survey, people will be shifted to quarantine facilities.

All government and private hospitals have been asked to identify and requisition accommodation in their vicinity to house doctors and paramedical staff.

“In case of a medical emergency caused by large-scale outbreak of the pandemic, hospitals will need round-the-clock services of medical staff, who also need to be kept isolated from the rest of the community,” explained a senior health department officer.

The state government has requisitioned the services of 2,500 retired health department officials to help in the fight against the pandemic.