Hyderabad: Students planning to go abroad for studies can get vaccinated against Covid-19 at the Institute of Preventive Medicine at Narayanguda, Director of Health Services Dr G Srinivasa Rao announced on Thursday.
While the vaccination will begin on Saturday, a link for booking online slots by such students will be available at https://www.health.telangana.gov.in from Friday.
Dr Rao said the lockdown has brought Covid-19 cases down but there are still some districts where the fresh infections were high and continuing. These hotspots of Covid-19 infection in rural areas will be visited by health officials to understand the reasons for the continued spread of the disease.
He said some of the areas of concern were Sathupalli and Madhira in Khammam, Huzurnagar and Kodad in Suryapet, Alampur in Jogulamba Gadwal, Haliya in Nalgonda and Makthal in Mahbubnagar districts. Strict measures to contain the spread of the disease will be enforced in such areas and people have to exercise utmost caution, Dr Srinivas Rao said, addressing a press conference.
He said that it has also been noted that children in several districts are suffering from multisystem inflammatory syndrome, and many of them are now being brought to the city with complaints of recurrent fever.
Dr K. Ramesh Reddy, Director of Medical Education said these cases are also a cause for concern and early treatment will help in faster recovery.
The state, Dr Rao said, has identified seven lakh people in high risk groups for vaccination and it is being ensured that these groups are vaccinated at the earliest. Frontline workers in municipal corporations who have not been vaccinated are also in the priority groups and steps are being taken to vaccinate all of them, he said.
Dr Rao said, "A special team has been formed to look into the complaints of the patients with excess billing. This team will work to get refunds to the patients from the erring hospitals. This team will also look into the aspect of renewing licenses where hospitals must have their own oxygen plants.”
In all, 14 new RT-PCR testing labs will begin functioning in different districts from June 10 to improve the testing. In addition, mobile testing vans were also being used to cover populations in interior areas, the officials said.
