The Andhra Pradesh government on July 14 announced that it would be giving an amount of Rs 15,000 for conducting the last rites of patients dying due to COVID-19. The state’s Health and Family Welfare Commissioner Katamaneni Bhaskar said that the amount would be given to the family members of the deceased if they are the ones performing the last rites.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy took the decision at a COVID-19 review meeting. The chief minister also asked the officials to implement it 'immediately'.
"Rs 15,000 should be given towards the last rites of the deceased & (Chief Minister) instructed the officials to issue orders immediately," an official statement quoted him as having said at the meeting.
Stating that the hospital should not turn away COVID-19 patients, CM said, "If the hospital authority refuses to do so, he will be dealt with severely & the hospital permissions will be revoked.
Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy also instructed officials to focus on hygiene, medicines, quality of food at quarantine centers & make sure that the call center number for complaints related to COVID-19 is displayed at every COVID Centre & that feedback be collected on a recurring basis.
Awareness should be created among people on the need & availability of undergoing COVID-19 tests & the COVID-19 symptoms.
Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy also instructed that the tests should also be carried out as per Standard Operating Procedure, which should mention the category that one has to undergo the tests.
According to the Union Health Ministry, Andhra Pradesh is one of the states where the cases of COVID-19 are rapidly rising and on July 13, it climbed to the eighth position among the states with the highest caseload of COVID-19 in the country. As of 4 pm on July 14, the southern state had over 32,500 confirmed total cases of Coronavirus, of which 16,091 cases were active, according to the state’s Coronavirus dashboard. The recovery rate in the state is a little less than 50 percent. Meanwhile, the number of deaths in the country stood at 452 on July 14.
