Following a substantial drop in positive cases over the previous month, the 300-bed temporary COVID-19 hospital established beneath German tents beside the Super Speciality Hospital (connected to the GGH) here was removed on Saturday.
On Saturday, there were only 42 positive cases in 24 hours in the district and 26 cases in Kurnool district.
This and another such temporary hospital – an oxygen-supported 500-bed hospital next to the Arjas Steel Plant at Tadipatri – were readied by May 24 in the district by investing close to ₹4 crore. The Tadipatri hospital however has so far treated only close to 400 patients as the second wave of COVID-19 was on the wane by the time the hospital was inaugurated by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in June.
The facility at Anantapur did not have any assured oxygen supply like that of Tadipatri, where even today oxygen is supplied by the Arjas Steel. The patients admitted at Anantapur were supported with oxygen cylinders or concentrators.
The Tadipatri facility is, however, useful even today with eight patients admitted as of the date and two of them getting oxygen support. The majority of the patients come from Anantapur and Kadapa districts, while 20% had come from the southern mandals of the Kurnool district too, hospital superintendent Chukkaluru Srinivasulu Reddy said.
