The State health department on Monday directed all private hospitals in Jharkhand to reserve at least 50 per cent of beds for Covid-19 patients amid an alarming rise in Covid cases and an acute shortage of dedicated beds in the State capital.
Last week, the Government had asked private hospitals to reserve 25 per cent of beds for Covid patients, but the crisis of beds continued to haunt patients and their family in many parts of the State. The fresh direction was given to private hospitals following a meeting of top health officials chaired by Health Minister Banna Gupta in Ranchi on Monday.
Jharkhand reported 19 Covid casualties and 2,366 fresh cases from Sunday 10pm to Monday 10 pm, figures compiled by the National Health Mission (NHM) highlighted. Monday’s findings took the active caseload in the state to 15,343 and the Covid toll up at 1,232, a bulletin released by the NHM stated.
Ranchi alone accounted for eight Covid casualties and 787 cases of infection on the day, revealed NHM data. The active caseload in the district reached 6,981 on Monday, the highest among the 24 districts in Jharkhand. The Covid toll reached 317 by Monday night.
Dhanbad also reported eight Covid casualties on Monday, which took the toll in the district to 135. The district, however, did not report a major spike in cases. At least 64 cases against 42 recoveries took the active caseload there to 513.
The active caseload in East Singhbhum, the second worst-hit district, reached 1,805 on Monday as the district reported 370 fresh cases of infection. With two more deaths reported on Monday, the Covid toll in East Singhbhum also jumped to 373, Government data highlighted.
Meanwhile, the State health secretary KK Soan wrote to the Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare requesting her to provide at least 1,500 ventilators to Jharkhand for treating patients suffering from severe symptoms of Covid-19. In the letter, Soan wrote that Jharkhand has around 500 functional ventilators and may require more ventilators if cases continue to rise at the same pace.
The State also received 1,500 vials of Remdesivir injections for treatment of Covid patients. Jharkhand has run out of the anti-viral injection, which affected treatment of Covid patients across the State.
Health Minister Banna Gupta had on Sunday requested Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan to provide additional Remdesivir injections and other medicines to
Jharkhand for treatment of Covid patients.The State on Monday administered the first dose of the vaccine against Covid-19 to over 53,000 people, while the second dose was administered to 5,701 beneficiaries, stated an NHM report.