Puducherry, Jul 28 (PTI) Hospitals in Puducherry should soon be able to accommodate 10,000 coronavirus patients as steps were on to post additional doctors and other staff for them, Chief Minister V Narayanasamy said on Tuesday.

The government had already requested the centrally administered JIPMER to augment the number of beds and also the daily testing of samples, he said adding seven private medical hospitals should also ramp up their facilities.

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"Our initiative is to ensure that10,000 beds are totally available in government-run hospitals and also in private medical college hospitals in the Union Territory," the chief minister said in a video interaction with mediapersons.

Privately managed hotels would also be utilised as quarantine centres for patients, he added.

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The government, on its part, has intensified steps to provide hospitals with additional equipment and by posting more health personnel as the incidence of infection has been on the rise now, he said.

The Centre had earmarked fifty ventilators for the Puducherry government hospitals, he added.

The chief minister said the government had decided to set up testing labs within Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam regions so that results of COVID-19 tests could be available quickly.

He said presently the samples in Karaikal were sent to the Government Medical College hospital in Tiruvarur in neighbouring Tamil Nadu for testing which was a time consuming process.

Referring to the rise in coronavirus cases in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, especially in Villupuram and Cuddalore districts, Narayanasamy said, "Puducherry should therefore be on guard and avoid being caught unawares."

"Government initiatives alone would not suffice. People should play their role in the current battle against the pandemic. There should be strict adherence to safety norms to prevent spread of the virus," he added.PTI Cor SS

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)