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The Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) of Manwat in Parbhani district has become the first such body in the state to start a 100-bed Covid Care Centre (CCC), which was inaugurated on Saturday. Deepak Muglikar, district collector of Parbhani, said similar centres are also planned by the APMCs of Selu, Pathri and Jintur talukas.
At the start of second wave, the state government had urged cooperative institutions like sugar mills and APMCs to start CCCs. These centres were to help augment the available bed strength in rural areas. The APMCs were to finance the infrastructure while medical staff and medicines were to be provided by district authorites.
Of the 100 beds at the Manwat centre, 20 will be fitted with oxygen, Muglikar said. The centre has come up in the building of a girls hostel in the area. “The cost of setting up the centre along with the running cost, which includes mess charges, will be financed by the APMC,” he said. The facilities in Jintur, Selu and Pathri will be set up in the coming days.
Since the start of the outbreak, Parbhani has reported 41,915 cases and 674 Covid-19 deaths. The district, which borders hotspots like Nanded, has seen a steady rise in cases in April. After the case count rose to more than 1,000 cases per day, the state has been reporting 400-500 cases per day in the past few days.
The district recently received 34,000 doses of vaccines. The 12,000 Covaxin doses will be used for the age group of 18-44 years while the remaining doses of Covishield will be used to provide the second dose or as first dose of the 45 years and above age group.
But district officials are concerned about oxygen supply after the closure of oxygen plants in neighbouring Karnataka. “At present, we are getting a tanker every alternate day from Chakan,” the collector said.
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