Centre working to create more temporary beds, increase manpower, says health minister Harsh Vardhan
- Harsh Vardhan called the current Covid-19 scenario “a trying time”, but opined the country is better equipped to deal with the challenges this time around even though the situation feels overwhelming.
Union minister Harsh Vardhan said on Tuesday that the Centre is working on creating more temporary beds in hospitals as the nation goes through a brutal second wave of Covid-19. He added that manpower is also being ramped up.
“We're creating more temporary beds in hospitals. We are also working on increasing the manpower,” Vardhan said at the IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s summit
Reflecting on last year’s pandemic scenario Vardhan said that over 80% of infected patients were treated under home isolation. Vardhan said the initial response to the second wave has been good but there is a need to increase facilities.
“Last year, over 80% of people were treated under home isolation. Our start is good but we need to increase our facilities more,” Vardhan said.
Vardhan called the current Covid-19 scenario “a trying time”, but opined the country is better equipped to deal with the challenges this time around even though the situation feels overwhelming.
“These are indeed trying times for our country keeping in view of the unprecedented surge of Covid-19 cases in the past weeks. The situation seems overwhelming once again but this time we are better informed to deal with it, we have the tools to tackle it,” he said.
While addressing the 54th Commission on Population and Development on Monday Vardhan spoke on the damage that the Covid-19 pandemic had inflicted on food security and nutrition of people around the world, which he said was likely to reverse the progress the world had made towards the goal of ending hunger by the year 2030.
“Pandemic has severely disrupted food security and nutrition for millions of people around the world and will likely reverse the progress made towards ending hunger by 2030.” Vardhan said at the conference.
The Union minister expressed gratitude towards healthcare workers, stating that the country will always be indebted to them for their continued service.
On Tuesday, India’s Covid-19 tally went past the 15.3 million-mark after the country recorded 259,170 fresh cases in 24 hours. Marking the sixth consecutive day of India recording over 2,00,000 cases a day.