DW BUREAU / Chandigarh Principal Secretary Health and Family Welfare, Punjab Sh. Hussan Lal here today chaired a virtual meeting with private hospitals of the state for COVID-19 management. He urged the private hospitals on board for COVID-19 treatment to defer the elective surgeries at least till 30th April to meet the rising number of demand for Covid beds. He directed all the private hospitals to charge at government fixed rates for the treatment and avoid overcharging. There are 213 private hospitals on board for the COVID-19 treatment in the state at present and the Government has provided 230 ventilators to private hospitals which should be used optimally. Principal Secretary Health expressed concern about rising number of fatalities, especially while shifting the patients from L2 to L3 facilities and advised that referral should be made in time. He stated that 20,000 doses of Remdisivir have been provided to Government and Private hospitals and these were available free of cost. He further exhorted the hospitals to treat the patient at the level of which they have the facilities available and the patient should be referred to the appropriate level well in time, if they feel that the patient requires higher level of hospitalization. Regarding the Covid Vaccine, the Principal Secretary advised that being a very precious item, its wastage should be avoided. He urged private hospital to set-up COVID Vaccination centers to facilitate vaccination. He further reiterated that Oxygen demand and supply must communicated to the Civil Surgeon of the district so that in case of any additional requirement, the same could be made available from the appropriate source well in time. He also expressed his concern about the Critical Care Specialists of Private hospitals not attending sessions being organised by Dr KK Talwar and advised the hospitals to ensure that their Critical Care Specialists must attend these webinars being coordinated by Dr Talwar. Principal Secretary Medical Education & Research Sh. D.K. Tiwari stressed upon the need to increase the vaccination of the appropriate levels of eligible beneficiaries. President, Punjab Medical Council Dr AS Sekhon assured the Health Department that PMC shall work in close coordination with the private hospitals to ensure that they all follow the protocols and attend the webinars as well, and for this purpose districts shall be allocated to each Medical Council member, who shall coordinate Covid management and vaccination in the district. (editor@dailyworld.in)