Portea Medical collaborates with Karnataka government to provide support for COVID care in rural districts

The initiative is aimed at ensuring round-the-clock access to care for people affected by the pandemic in the district

Portea Medical has partnered with the Government of Karnataka to support the recovery and care unit in the COVID-affected rural areas. The company has identified a 50-bedded Community Health Centre (CHC) at Konanur, Arkalgud taluk, Hassan District Karnataka. It has partnered with an NGO called DFY for this first-of-its-kind initiative, which will be extended to other areas going forward, the startup said in a statement.

The second wave of COVID-19 wreaked havoc in the rural areas. The situation is further exacerbated by the lack of access to basic healthcare services including oxygen support. Many people have had to travel for hours to get to nearby towns such as Hassan for healthcare. There are families who have lost their loved ones because they could not afford to travel to a hospital or other factors, added the statement.

The government has been undertaking various initiatives to help those in need. With this initiative, Portea has changed the dynamics by enabling healthcare access in these rural pockets through the L2 centre in Konanur. The centre is servicing 15 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in and around the area and Portea has been able to make a difference in terms of providing care. Many more such centres will be established in the weeks ahead, it said.

It also mentioned that the centres will have 24-hour oxygen support and HDU beds equipped with BiPAP machines, and backed up with oxygen concentrators. In addition to this, an expert team of doctors and nurses with hands-on experience in handling COVID-19 patients will also be deployed.

Speaking about the initiative, Meena Ganesh, MD and CEO, Portea Medical, said, “In this time of distress and need, there is a need for all stakeholders to come together and make joint efforts towards helping people come out of the pandemic. After the cities, COVID-19 has spread to the rural districts of the country where people may not have access to even the basic facilities to handle the situation. This is where we wanted to ensure that the government gets the much-needed support from all directions. While we have started with the Hassan district, these services will be extended to other areas in the near term.”