Desperate Patients Call Telangana Police COVID Cell Seeking Beds, Oxygen Cylinders

Hyderabad: The Telangana police's Covid-19 cell reopened its operations a week ago to respond to emergency situations and ensure proper supply of medicines and beds to frontline warriors. The cell was formed during last year's lockdown to ensure supply chain stability and hassle-free transportation of vital commodities.

Since resuming operations, the police headquarters' call centre has been inundated with requests for beds, medications, and oxygen cylinders.

As a result of the crisis, a few city suppliers were given an ultimatum to provide required medicines to frontline warriors.

A few manufacturers were warned by the police that if they did not comply, they would face serious consequences. Since there are so many Covid cases every day, the cell is primarily focused on providing medicines and beds to affected frontline warriors, especially physicians, whose services are critical during a pandemic, as well as those employed in police and municipal departments.

In the last week, half a dozen doctors have died after contracting the virus.

“After studying the entire situation during the ongoing pandemic, we have decided to ensure better services to frontline warriors,” according to a police official. At the same time, other critical Covid patients' needs have been addressed over the last few days. “We are mobilizing all our resources to meet the requirements of Covid-19 patients,” the official said.

When the government announced a lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus last year, chaos reigned for the first two days in providing basic necessities to citizens. The police department established the Covid cell for proper communication with stakeholders and other agencies in order to resolve issues related to commodity transportation starting at the village level and to enhance the supply system.

After a few days of researching the entire supply chain, the team began working with stakeholders and authorities from the marketing and civil supplies departments to address the issues that were preventing vital goods from being delivered due to lockdown restrictions. This ensured that people had access to goods on a consistent basis.