The central government has stepped in to help the Uttarakhand government in its battle against a steep hike in contagion of Covid-19. On the request of chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat the central government has decided to set up two temporary hospitals with a capacity of 500 beds each in the state. These hospitals, one each in Garhwal and Kumaon division would be set up with the help of Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO).
In Kumaon this DRODO supported hospital would be set up in the campus of Sushila Tiwari Government Hospital Haldwani while in Garhwal the hospital would come up in the IDPL land in Rishikesh and would be operated by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh. Informing about the decision the secretary Health Pankaj Kumar Pandey told media- persons that the new hospital in Haldwani would have 400 oxygen beds and 100 ICU beds while the one in Rishikesh would have 500 oxygen beds. He said that apart from this the DRDO would help in setting up 400 oxygen beds in the Himalayan hospital. Pandey added that the state government would also provide help to AIIMS Rishikesh to increase 100 ICU beds.
He claimed that the state government is continuously working to increase its capacity in dealing with the pandemic. Pandey claimed that in the last two days the government has added seven middle level hospitals after which the state has added 700 oxygen beds, 39 ICU and two ventilators to its capacity.
The state has about 17000 normal beds, 5500 oxygen supported, 1302 ICU beds and 774 ventilators for treatment of Covid patients. Pandey informed that the state has 12 Covid hospitals, 62 DCSC and 385 Covid care centres. He claimed that the state has adequate numbers of Remdesivir injection and the state government has requested the union government to provide more injections to it.
He said that a control room has been set up to prevent black marketing of the oxygen and Remdesivir injection. Pandey added that the rate of the rapid antigen test has been lowered to Rs 300.
The officer informed that the government has appointed nodal officers for overseeing different works associated with Covid and the additional chief secretary Manisha Panwar is checking the daily progress report of these nodal officers.
