Dharamshala: Himachal recording 78 deaths on Tuesday (18.5.2021) – the highest since the pandemic broke out last year, has alarmed the authorities with the toll being the highest in Kangra district. On Wednesday, the state has recorded another 69 deaths with the total toll from the pandemic touching 2516 till date.
Expressing concern over the increase in the number of Covid related deaths in the Kangra district Jai Ram Thakur, the chief minister said that the serious patients be shifted to health institutions immediately from home isolation so that proper treatment could be made available to them.
Reviewing the Covid-19 situation in the district here, the chief minister disclosed that the hospital bed capacity had been increased from 1500 to about 5000 so as to cater to the demand of COVID patients.
At the request of the State Government, the Federal Government has increased the quota of oxygen from 15 MT to 30 MT. The State has demanded that the oxygen quota of the State be increased by another 10 MT.”
Considering the gravity of the situation, intensive care unit (ICU) beds also were being increased and 20 additional ventilators had been provided for Dr.Rajendra Prasad Medical College, Tanda (Kangra), and another 25 ventilators for IGMC, Shimla.
Arrangements have been made to ensure an adequate supply of oxygen in Civil Hospital, Nurpur.
To ensure adequate staff in the health institutions, the State Government has recruited about 3000 employees on an outsourced basis and efforts were also on to make fresh appointments in health institutions.
He said that the State Government has also issued SOPs for dead body management of COVID patients.
On the occasion, the chief minister also launched the Home Isolation Kit ‘Sanjeevni’.
Rakesh Prajapati, district magistrate of Kangra said that a COVID test report was now being made available within 48 hours of a test being conducted.
Kangra district being a highly affected district in Himachal, the magistrate said that testing facility had also been expanded to prevent the spread of infection. To date, the district has recorded 718 deaths, as per government data.
For testing 18 persons per thousand in March, to 31 persons per thousand in April, the testing rate had been increased to 37 persons per thousand in the current month, Prajapati disclosed. In April a total of 29,682 samples were taken, in May 52,347 and so far in May, 59,418 samples have been taken, he added.
“People are being motivated to get tested in case of symptoms of cough, fever etc. so that corona infection can be detected in the initial stage and treatment can be started at the right time,” he said.
The review meeting was attended by Speaker Vidhan Sabha – Vipin Parmar, Health Minister – Dr. Rajiv Saizal, Members of Parliament – Kishan Kapoor and Indu Goswami, Deputy Chairman State Planning Board- Ramesh Dhawala, MLAs -Arun Mehra, Arjun Singh, Rita Dhiman, Mulkh Raj Premi, and Vishal Nehriya and other officers attended the meeting among others.
District health officials and district administration officers were also part of the review meeting. SecretaryHealth Amitabh Awasthi joined in virtually from Shimla.
Arvind Sharma is an award winning bi-lingual journalist with more than 20 years of experience.
He has worked with Divya Himachal, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhasker, Vir Partap, Ajit and PTI.
In 2010, he was conferred the Himachal Kesri journalism award. He reports on the Tibetan Government in Exile, politics, sports, tourism and other topics. He lives in Dharamshala.
