Aiming at bringing down the coronavirus death rate to below one percent in West Bengal, it's health department will deploy medical specialists at a number of COVID-19 hospitals in the state, a senior official said on September 17.

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Teams of specialists in general medicine, chest medicine, anaesthesiology, nephrology, cardiology and neurology from different medical colleges will be visiting nearby COVID-19 hospitals, he said. "The idea is to bring down the death rate due to COVID-19 below one percent. The team will attend to patients round the clock at the hospitals," the official told PTI.

In the metropolis, senior doctors from SSKM Hospital will be deployed at the MR Bangur Hospital and the KPC Medical College & Hospital, while another team of specialists from the Kolkata National Medical College & Hospital will be monitoring treatment at the CNCI in Rajarhat. Outside Kolkata, doctors from district hospitals or super speciality hospitals will be included in the team of specialists. The official said the decision to deploy experts at different COVID-19 hospitals was taken after coming to know that 86 percent of deaths were due to comorbidities.