E-Paper
Cases rising, but state well placed to handle situation: Chief secy
Chandigarh Punjab chief secretary Vini Mahajan on Wednesday said the state is well prepared to handle the current patient load and there was no dearth of facilities for the treatment of Covid patients at any level.
In a statement, she said all necessary arrangements have been ensured at level 2 and 3 facilities. Level- 2 facilities in the state are well prepared to handle the current patient load with more than 60% beds lying vacant in the four worst Covid-hit districts — Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala and Amritsar.
She said Punjab government has partnered with the private healthcare sector to ensure greater coverage and better utilisation of the available resources.
The chief secretary said at Level 3 facilities in these four districts, cumulatively more than 40% beds are currently unoccupied. Though the occupancy of hospital/ICU beds by critically ill patients is increasing, the situation is far from being as grave as mentioned in some news reports, she said.
She said it is possible that some individual centres may report full occupancy at times, but there is a strong mechanism in place at the district level to ensure that patients are referred immediately to another centre and given the best possible medical care.
“The Punjab government has designated dedicated officers, called Covid Patient Tracking Officers (CPTOs), who monitor every person that tests positive right from the time that the test result comes till the completion of treatment. Similarly, senior IAS and PCS officers have also been made incharge of tertiary care and Level 3 facilities to ensure that there is optimal utilisation of resources,” she said.
The live bed status availability will also be made available to the public shortly on the COVA App, she said.
“While it is true that there is a spurt in the number of COVID positive cases, it has been limited to big cities. It is primarily driven by the easing of the lockdown restrictions, ramping up of testing facilities and also because of non-observance of the government directives, such as use of mask, social distancing, etc.,” she said.