Bihar mulls fresh treatment protocol to cope with new Covid variant

On Tuesday, as many as 10,455 Covid-19 cases, the highest in a single day, were registered in Bihar. Of these 2,186 infections were reported in Patna and 1,081 in Gaya- the two worst hit cities.

Bihar is considering revising the treatment protocol for the dominant double mutant strain of Covid-19 while also ramping up oxygen production and supply, and capacitating three-tier state health infrastructure to cope with the rapidly rising infections, said officials.

Bihar panchayati raj department has been told to distribute six face masks, free of cost to each household in rural areas.

The revised protocol may advise scanning of lungs and application of emergency drugs earlier than done till now keeping the new variant’s behaviour in mind, a health department official said on condition of anonymity. He added that a fresh set of standard operating procedures (SoPs) for healthcare centres was also expected. District authorities have also been instructed to ensure primary, referral and district hospitals are equipped with necessary equipment, medicines and personnel to ensure effective diagnosis and treatment at the local level, reducing pressure on big centres in major cities.

On Tuesday, as many as 10,455 Covid-19 cases, the highest in a single day, were registered in Bihar. Of these 2,186 infections were reported in Patna and 1,081 in Gaya- the two worst hit cities. The state has a total of 56,354 active cases, as per the health department’s data.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar earlier asked for drastically cutting down the waiting time for RT-PCR tests and results, identifying it as one of the reasons for late diagnosis, which has proven fatal in several Covid cases.

The state government’s crisis management group met on Tuesday and asked the district magistrates (DMs) to ensure oximeters, basic pathology laboratories, medicines and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits were sufficiently stacked at the primary health centres (PHCs), community health centres, sub-divisional and district hospitals for effective medical management of Covid patients at the local level.

“Only critically sick persons, who required critical care, shall be allowed admission in the premier hospitals like AIIMS, PMCH, NMCH, IGIMS, etc,” said the CM’s principal secretary. AIIMS - All India Institute of Medical Sciences, PMCH – Patna Medical College Hospital NMCH - Nalanda Medical College and Hospital and IGIMS - Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences are public hospitals in Patna.

The CMG also set up a special task force, led by industries director Panka Dixit, to monitor and ramp up production and supply of liquid oxygen from refilling plants in neighbouring states—Bokaro and Jamshedpur plants in Jharkhand and Durgapur plant in West Bengal. Currently, three private plants in Patna are generating oxygen from air to refill up to 50 cylinders per hour. They are operational round the clock. Another oxygen plant in Begusarai has also begun production, and plants attached with premier hospitals have been told to optimise production.

In other measures taken on Tuesday, the panchayati raj department has been told to distribute six face masks, free of cost to each household in rural areas.