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No shortage of ICU beds, ventilators, oxygen: Vij
The health minister said Haryana has 45,086 quarantine beds and 11,549 isolation beds, of which about 89% are vacant
Despite massive increase in the Covid cases in Haryana, 89% isolation beds, 58% ICU beds and around 63% ventilators are vacant, health minister Anil Vij on Monday said, assuring citizens that oxygen availability was at least four times more than the consumption.
Presiding over a state-level Covid monitoring committee meeting, the health minister said Critical Corona Care Centres will be set up in all government medical colleges of the state and that in view of the ongoing surge in Covid cases the surgery in civil hospitals has been discontinued.
“At least 270MT of oxygen is available, while the state is consuming 60 MT,” Vij said, adding that there is no shortage of oxygen and Remdesivir in the state.
The health minister said Haryana has 45,086 quarantine beds and 11,549 isolation beds, of which about 89% are vacant. He said of 2,131 ICU beds, 58% are vacant, while of 1,079 ventilators around 63% are vacant. He said that there are about 42,000 Covid cases in the state, of which around 30,000 are in home isolation.
The management of the doctors of the AYUSH department has been given to civil surgeons of the respective districts so that Covid patients can be looked after properly, he said.
A home isolation kit is being prepared, which will contain medicines, oximeter, Covid prevention literature and other necessary materials. The government has decided to conduct Covid test of patients going to private and government hospitals with symptoms such as cough, cold, sore throat or fever.
Devotees returning from Haridwar after attending the Kumbh Mela will be tested at the entry points of Haryana.
The health department will take initiatives to conduct Covid tests and administer the vaccine to farmers sitting on dharna on the Haryana border. For this, first talks will be held with farmers’ leaders.
The state-level Covid monitoring committee that comprises senior IAS, IPS and health department officers, also includes chief principal secretary to CM DS Dhesi, and chief secretary Vijai Vardhan.
No Ram Navami lockdown
Vij who is also the state health minister was responding to a plea of the Chandigarh administration for a Ram Navami lockdown in the tricity — Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali — to contain the spread of coronavirus.
While Punjab chief minister, Captain Amarinder Singh has endorsed the view of the chandigarh administration by ordering a lockdown in Mohali on Wednesday, the Haryana government has rejected the idea.
“We will not close down any religious place. Instead, we will strictly enforce the restrictions on gatherings in indoor and outdoor spaces. A maximum 50% of the hall capacity has been allowed with a ceiling of 50 persons for indoors and gatherings will be allowed with the ceiling of 200 persons in outdoors,’’ the home minister said.
