Odisha plans to vaccinate 3 lakh persons a day ahead of 3rd Covid wave

The Odisha government said it will also train 1,114 doctors and 1,036 nurses in paediatric Covid care.

Updated on: Jun 9, 2021, 11:24:50 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday said it aims to vaccinate 300,000 eligible residents daily, almost doubling the current rate of 140,000-160,000 vaccine doses administered daily. He also stressed on the need to improve paediatric healthcare ahead of a possible third wave of the coronavirus pandemic. The second Covid-19 wave is more or less under control in Odisha with cases declining by 0.5- 1% daily.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. (Photo by Arabinda Mahapatra / Hindustan Times) (Arabinda Mahapatra)

Patnaik reviewed the Covid situation in the state on Tuesday evening and asked the health department to create separate paediatric healthcare wings at existing Covid hospitals keeping in mind that isolation of paediatric Covid-19 cases was not possible in general wards. All district hospitals and sub divisional hospitals have been asked to earmark 10 beds for isolating suspected paediatric Covid cases.

Of the 10,736 general beds and 4,072 ICU (intensive care unit) and HDU (high dependency unit) beds in Covid hospitals, at least 15% beds will be reserved for paediatric cases with the aim to make at least 2,850 general beds and 150 ICU beds available anticipating 10,000 daily infections in the third wave, as per the projections made by a government appointed task force.

The government said it will also train 1,114 doctors and 1,036 nurses in paediatric Covid care. Currently, there are 454 paediatric specialists employed with the state government apart from 94 doctors, who are pursuing post graduate studies in paediatrics.

The government also discussed modalities of lifting the lockdown from districts with low Covid test positivity rate (TPR) after June 17. Though the daily TPR in the state has climbed down to 8.5%, the weekly TPR continued to be high in at least 17 districts with Bhadrak’s TPR at 31.83%. Five districts including Bolangir reported TPR of less than 5%.

Odisha’s director of Health Services Dr Bijay Kumar Mohapatra said if the trend of 0.5% to 1% daily fall continues, then the TPR would drop below 5% in 7 to 8 days.

On the grim side, the daily Covid-19 fatality count reached 45 on Tuesday, the highest so far.

“Many patients are admitted in the ICUs and are on ventilators. The recovery rate of patients on ventilators is very low and that is the reason for [the] rising [number of] fatalities,” said Mohapatra.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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