The Bihar government on Friday decided to issue daily health bulletins to inform the family members about the status of coronavirus patients amid allegations of poor treatment in various hospitals and isolation centres and the spike in cases in the state.

“All government hospitals and facilities treating coronavirus patients will issue daily health bulletins on each and every patient. It will help their family members know about their health condition and keep them informed,” said Pratyaya Amrit, principal secretary, health department.

Several videos, allegedly showing the miserable condition of patients in Bihar hospitals, have been shared widely on social media last month.

Many of them showed that doctors and nurses were allegedly not attending coronavirus patients, bodies lying unattended in the wards for two days, and family members of the patients being allegedly made to serve medicine, food and change oxygen cylinders inside a dedicated Covid-19 hospital.

Several people have raised an outcry against the alleged failings in the healthcare system of the state.

The health department will also establish dedicated Covid-19 treatment control rooms with a toll-free number in all 38 districts.

Migrants who came back from Bangalore in June because of the Covid-19 lockdown queue up at Birsa Munda International Airport in Ranchi on Friday to return to their places of work. PTI

It will function round-the-clock with dedicated teams of doctors to provide medical advice to people who have tested positive or are worried about possible symptoms of Covid-19.

Such control rooms can also hire private doctors on an honorarium of Rs 2,000 per day to ensure smooth functioning. They will also be provided with ambulances containing PPE (personal protective equipment) kits and other facilities to transport suspected or confirmed Covid-19 patients.

The health department will also launch a mobile application very soon to keep the people updated on information about coronavirus, provide medical advice to those who have tested positive and are in home isolation and also guide the suspected patients.

The coronavirus count jumped to 50,987 in Bihar on Friday, after the detection of 2,986 new cases from a total of 22,742 tests conducted in the last 24 hours.

The state government is targeting to conduct 40,000 tests daily in the coming days. So far 298 people, including 13 doctors, have succumbed to Covid-19.