Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Friday had a meeting through video conference with Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan in which he apprised him about the steps being taken by the State Government to tackle the menace of coronavirus effectively.
Thakur said that there were six districts in the State, where no case has been reported of Covid-19, pointing out that 8847 persons had been kept under surveillance in the state, out of which 5637 people had completed 28 days of necessary surveillance period whereas 3210 people were still under observation. He said that 3994 persons had so far been investigated for coronavirus in the State.
He said presently, reports of 40 people have been found positive out of which 18 persons have been discharged after being found negative. Besides this, four persons have gone for treatment outside the State and one person has died. He said that remaining 17 persons were under treatment in the hospitals of the State.
The Chief Minister said hotspots of coronavirus in the State had been sealed to avoid spread of virus, adding that government had established about 9200 quarantine beds in 183 health institutions of the State. He urged the Union Health Minister to provide more ventilators for the State to meet out any emergent situation.
Thakur said investigation of samples for Covid-19 were being done at four places viz. IGMC, Shimla, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, IHBT, Palampur in Kangra district and Central Research Institute, Kasauli in district Solan.
He said the State Government had notified five hospitals as dedicated hospitals for Covid-19 including Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Government Medical College, Nerchowk, district Mandi, ESI Hospital, Katha Baddi in Solan district, Charitable hospital Bhota in district Hamirpur, Civil Hospital, Sarahan, in district Sirmaur and Agarwal hospital, Jwalamukhi, district Kangra.
Thakur said that under Active Case Finding Campaign launched in the State, over 70 lakh people had been covered and out of these about 10,000 persons had been identified with influenza like illness (ILI) symptoms, who were being examined.
GOVT STRESSING ON HOME-BASED TEACHING, SAYS CM
Himachal Government has launched ‘Har Ghar Pathshala’ programme to provide home-based teaching facility to the students so that their studies do not suffer due to curfew imposed in the state in wake of corona pandemic, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said.
Presiding over the meeting of education department here, he said under this programme, multiple programmes were being used to ensure maximum reach of the students, pointing out that a three hours slot per day on Doordarshan Shimla was focusing on classes X and XII. Besides, online classes were also being conducted by teachers via whatsapp and centralized website. He said that efforts were on to start teaching module through All India Radio to ensure maximum coverage as well.
Thakur said the Government was also contemplating to honour the teachers of education department for developing best academic contents for the programme besides ensuring effective implementation of these programme in their schools. He said that focus should be laid on providing best contents to the students on important subjects besides ensuring coverage of all classes from I to XII standard.
The CM said effective and acceptable mechanism must be evolved for providing marks to the students of Plus two in vocational subjects where paper could not be conducted due to lockdown. He said that a foolproof mechanism should also be developed for evaluation of answer sheets. He said that the department of education should also prepare an effective exit plan so that functioning of educational institutions could be normalized as soon as possible.
Efforts should also be made to compensate the loss of studies to the students by rescheduling academic and sports calendar for schools and colleges. The school education board must take all necessary steps for evaluation of answer sheets well in time, stressed the Chief Minister.
Education Minister Suresh Bhardwaj said 98 percent elementary schools and 90 percent high schools have been connected with higher authorities through whatsapp whereas 66 percent students of elementary schools and 72 percent students of higher schools have been connected through whatsapp with their teachers.
TIMELY GOVT INTERVENTION SAVES LIFE OF JUBBAL RESIDENT
The family members of Kuldeep Sood, 64, a resident of Jubbal of Shimla district have expressed their gratitude towards Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and the State Government for their timely intervention which saved the life of Sood, who is suffering from oxygen breathing problem and was stuck at Panchkula from the beginning of lockdown.
Since he is dependent upon the machine as he has multiple ailments and had been spending sleepless nights in balcony because his oxygen machine got heated and suffocated him in the single room, which he was sharing with his daughter and wife in Sector-11, Panchkula. The whole family was in distress and it was at this point of time that state government extended a helping hand.
A team of medical staff visited Sood at Panchkula and not only provided him necessary medicines but also helped him in getting a oxygen machine. On the directions of Chief Minister, an ambulance was arranged free-of-cost on 20th April to carry Kuldeep Sood and his family members from Panchkula to Jubbal.
Rishi Karol, daughter of the patient, has thanked the Chief Minister and the State Government for timely help and humanitarian gesture.