Chandigarh May, 5: Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal said that the State Government is dedicatedly working to ensure tackling of COVID-19 Pandemic in the state and in the last eight days he has himself visited 17 districts to review arrangements regarding prevention of COVID-19 and given necessary guidelines to the officers concerned.
The Chief Minister, while addressing a digital press conference here today said that concrete steps have been taken by the State Government to ensure an uninterrupted supply of oxygen, availability of both general, ICU and oxygen equipped beds in the State. All the officers concerned have been urged to work in the spirit of service to mankind and to take steps to make public aware about ways to protect themselves from the infection, he said.
He informed that to stop irrational use of experimental drugs such as Remdesivir and Tocilizumab used to treat patients with severe COVID-19 infection a district-level committee chaired by Chief Medical Officer has been constituted for all the districts. The private hospitals have been directed to contact this committee to get these drugs, while the final call for distribution would be taken by the Committee only.
Haryana has demanded 20,000 injections of Remdesivir from the Central Government, out of which 12,700 have been received. Besides this, 160 Tocilizumab injections have been received out of which 80 injections each have been allocated to private and government hospitals.
Distress Ration Tokens to be implemented this time too
The Chief Minister said that like last year, this time too all the needy and poor families residing in Haryana would get free of cost wheat at 5 kg per member of a family so that no one sleeps hungry in this hour of crisis. He said that like last year this time too the Social Organizations and other NGO’s old and the new ones have been urged to come forward for the distribution of this free ration at the doorsteps of every poor family. Along with the old organizations, the registration for new organization has also been started. Besides this, all the BPL and other cardholders would also be getting free ration, said the Chief Minister.
Special screening camps to be set up in rural areas
The Chief Minister said that since in rural areas the virus is spreading its wings therefore directions have been given to the officers concerned to set up a screening camp in each village so that anyone having COVID-19 symptoms can be caught early and further, the possibility of infection spread can be prevented. Besides this, the Health Department has also been directed to impart necessary training to people in these villages so that they can spread required awareness for the disease, he added.
Uninterrupted oxygen supply is ensured
The Chief Minister said that the State Government is leaving no stone unturned to ensure uninterrupted oxygen supply across the State.
Divulging the details about Oxygen supply the Chief Minister said that a state-level control room has been set up at Haryana Secretariat Chandigarh to monitor oxygen supply. The oxygen quota of the state was increased from 156 MT to 162 MT, then increased to 232 MT, which has been increased again to 257 MT. He informed that around 232 MT of oxygen is coming daily in Haryana from five different places including Rourkela, Jamshedpur, Panipat, Hisar, and Roorkee.
Strict directions have been issued to industrial plants to supply Oxygen Gas in the Hospitals, as a result of which the supply of Oxygen Gas in cylinders has been started from a total of 22 plants located in 13 districts, said the Chief Minister.
He informed that six district in the state namely Faridabad, Sonipat, Karnal, Ambala, Panchkula and Hisar have plants having Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) technology out of which trial for production of oxygen from the PSA technology has already been started at Sonipat, Faridabad, Hisar and Karnal and production in the remaining two plants will start in the next 3 to 4 days.
Swift increase in the availability of beds
The Chief Minister informed that presently, 8566 corona patients are on oxygen support, while 3828 patients are on ventilator support or are admitted in ICU in various medical colleges, government and private hospitals across the State. Besides this, a total of 526 District COVID Centers are set up in 22 districts, in which an arrangement of 45086 beds has been made. He informed that soon 1000 oxygen beds will be made available in PGI Rohtak and 200 in Faridabad. A 500 bedded hospital would be set up in Hisar and Panipat Refinery. The hospital is expected to be made operational by May 15, 2021, he added. He said that a 100 bedded and 70 bedded hospital would be set up by Medanta Group and Mankind Pharma in Gurugram respectively.
Rates caped for medical facilities in private Hospital
The Chief Minister while responding to a question regarding overcharging done by Private Hospitals said that rates of beds and ambulances in all private hospitals have also been capped, if any hospital or ambulance charges more than the fixed rates from the patients then strict action would be taken against such hospitals. Besides this, a round the clock helpline facility has been started to address the grievances. The state-level control room has been set up. Public representatives have been asked to address all such issues.
On this occasion, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister and Director General, Information, Public Relations and Languages Department, Dr. Amit Agrawal and Principal Media Advisor to Chief Minister Sh. Vinod Mehta were present on the occasion.