Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Friday urged the Central Government to provide adequate number of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits along with rapid diagnostic kits to the State so that the existing medical facilities could be strengthened to effectively fight COVID-19.
The Chief Minister also urged the Union Health Minister to provide 60 ventilators to the State so that adequate numbers of ventilators were available in case of any eventuality during a video conference of Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan with the Health Ministers of the States.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan assured the Chief Minister that the Union Government would provide all possible help to the State Government to tackle this situation. He said that the collective efforts by the Union Government as well as State Government were need of the hour.
Thakur said to date the State Government has notified six hospitals as COVID-19 hospitals in the state which includes Shri Lal Bahadur Sashtri Government Medical College Nerchowk Mandi, ESIC Hospital Katha Baddi, Charitable Hospital Bhota in Hamirpur district, S.S. Memorial Ashirwaad Hospital in Chamba district, Civil Hospital Sarahan in Sirmaur district and Agarwal Hospital Jwalamukhi in district Kangra.
The Chief Minister said the government has launched Active Case Finding Campaign in the state under which health workers during the door to door campaign have reached out to over 60 lakh people to enquire about their health. He said it has helped the State Government in identifying people with any kind of infection. He said the whole state would be covered under this campaign in next two days.
He said the State Government has started tele-medicine facilities in about 50 Health Sub Centres and Primary Health Centres in the state. He said that specialist consulates were providing medical consultancy through these centres.
Thakur said that till date as many as 773 people have been tested for COVID-19 out of which 745 people have been found negative. He said that there were 28 positive cases of COVID-19 in the state out of which two have recovered and discharged, four have gone for treatment outside the state and one person has died. He said the state today has 21 active cases of COVID-19 and all of them were either Tablighi Jamaat or their close contacts.
The Chief Minister said the state has identified about 6600 beds capacity for quarantine facility and 510 beds were available for isolation. He said that besides this, 450 beds were available for COVID-19 positive patients in the state.
He said the State Government was effectively enforcing curfew in the state and was also ensuring social distancing during the relaxation in the curfew so that people could purchase daily need commodities.