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IAS officer among 54 dead in last 24 hours State announces free Covid treatment at IGIMS, IMA pushes for emergency hiring of medicos
PATNA An IAS officer was among 54 people who died of coronavirus during the last 24 hours when Bihar reported 12,672 cases new cases, of them 2,801 in Patna alone
PATNA
An IAS officer was among 54 people who died of coronavirus during the last 24 hours when Bihar reported 12,672 cases new cases, of them 2,801 in Patna alone.
The deceased officer, Ravi Shankar Chowdhary, posted as additional secretary in health department
The state has reported 59 deaths on April 22 and 56 on April 21. What is causing concern is the steady fall in recovery rate, which came down to 79.28% on Friday from 85.62% on April 18.
Bihar has seen a more than three -fold increase in death cases since April 16, when it reported 16 deaths.
The number of active cases stood at 76,419. Gaya reported 816 new cases, Aurangabad 748, Muzaffarpur (704) and Saran (617).
Meanwhile, the state government announced free treatment for Covid patients at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS).
Chief minister Nitish Kumar made this announcement through a tweet on Friday evening. “The government will bear the cost of treatment and medicines as well,” he tweeted.
The chief minister also instructed officials to set the ventilators in all districts to order. “This should be done either through government efforts or in collaboration with private players,” he said.
Meanwhile, Indian Medical Association, Bihar, has written a letter to chief minister asking him to appoint doctors as an emergency measure. “There is a provision of quick appointment of doctors and others in times of an epidemic. All such people who are ready to join can be recruited on contract,” said Dr Ajay Kumar, senior vice-president of the IMA’s Bihar chapter.
“This war needs a big army of doctors, paramedics, nurses and support staff more than what we need in normal times. Situation, if not corrected, can be disastrous,” the IMA said in the letter.
Dr Kumar said doctors and health care workers (HCWs) have been working continuously for the last 14 months without any leave. “They are exhausted and need some rest on intervals. More than 15% of them are infected. Many have died. It is the demand of time in public interest,” said Kumar.
The IMA lauded the government efforts and said that In first wave of Covid-19 last year, Bihar government did meticulous planning and fought successfully the dreaded Covid-19 mobilizing its medical human resources. “IMA expresses its gratitude to the government of Bihar. This second virulent wave of Covid-19 has proved that humanity will have to fight it for long. IMA Bihar will always with the government with all its strength in this war against Covid-19,” he said.
