DW BUREAU / LUDHIANA To augment the health infrastructure especially in the rural hinterland which has been witnessing a spurt in Covid infections, the district administration today stated that a 50-bedded Covid Care Centre would start its operations from Sant Ishar Singh Memorial Hospital, Rara Sahib (Ludhiana) from May 13. This centre is being set up to combat the second wave of pandemic effectively. Inspecting the building and other requisite health facilities in the hospital, Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma accompanied by ADC (D) Sandeep Kumar, SDM Payal Mankanwal Chahal, Civil Surgeon Dr Kiran Ahluwalia Gill, Senior Congress leader Gurdev Singh Lapran said that this hospital building is an ideal place for starting Covid care Centre and would have 50 oxygen beds Level-I and level-II patients. The Oxygen supply would also be ensured for the treatment here, he added. He stated that the sampling would start in the hospital from tomorrow onwards to detect the cases and start treatment at the early stage to prevent them to reach level-II and level III which would save precious lives. He said that vaccination facilities would also be initiated here to ensure a shield to the eligible people. Sharma said that the priority was to take care of old and vulnerable populations with co-morbidities who were at high risk of developing severe illness and appealed to the people to don't take the flu-like symptoms lightly and contact the doctors soon. He said that the people should not get panicky as more cases were reported in the city due to aggressive testing by the health department. The Deputy Commissioner said that though fresh cases were coming, the district administration was fully geared up to combat the pandemic and save the people. (editor@dailyworld.in)