Ready to tackle COVID-19 pandemic, says Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said that there's no scarcity of ICU (Intensive Care Unit) beds, oxygen and remdesivir injections in the State, nor will there be any scarcity in the immediate future.

Sarma said that in the past ten days the situation has been brought well under control. "There's nothing to be panicked about. We're ready on all fronts," he said.

The COVID-19 situation in the State, on the other hand, is worsening every other day. Till Sunday, 15,470 fresh COVID-19 active cases were detected in the State. As many as 66 people died of the virus in the past seven days. The districts that have crossed the 500 marks of positive cases are Kamrup (Metro)-6,934; Kamrup – 1,204; Dibrugarh – 778; Nagaon – 574 and Sonitpur 684. The positivity rate in the State is 4.29 per cent.

Talking to the media here on Monday, Sarma said, "We're oxygen surplus. At present, the daily requirement of oxygen in the State is 20 MT. On the contrary, our daily production is 61 MT.

"Meghalaya Oxygen Plant and Premier Oxygen Plant produce 50 MT of oxygen daily. They'll give us 50 MT per day. The eight oxygen plants in medical colleges of the State together produce 5 MT per day.

"We're also going to reach an agreement with the authorities of the oxygen plants at Dimapur and the one at Bongaigaon. These two plants will provide us with 6 MT of oxygen per day.

"The oxygen plant in Bhutan is going to the ready in the next 40 days. We'll get 50 MT from the Bhutan plant. The Bhutan King today passed an order that the work of the oxygen plant shouldn't be stopped under any circumstances.

"The oxygen plant of Digboi Refinery has been defunct. We're going to revive it. The Government of India has also permitted us to procure oxygen from the Durgapur plant in West Bengal.

"Our oxygen storage capacity is 460 MT. We can transport 200 MT of oxygen at a time as we've 30 tankers ready."

"We have a stock of 25,000 remdesivir injections now. While 2,500 of these have been kept reserved for private nursing homes, 1,000 injections have been kept for the people of Assam under treatment in other States.

"The private nursing homes can procure remdesivir injections from the Government under the condition that they'll have to sell them at the cost price plus the GST. The cost per remdesivir injection will be around Rs 1,560. The nursing homes will send their requirements to the GMCH (Gauhati Medical College and Hospital) against the names of the patients. The GMCH will issue the injections against the patients mentioned.

"Some people of the State are under COVID-19 treatment in other States. If their family members approach the GMCH for remdesivir injections, we'll have to provide them."

On the manpower front, the Minister said that to tackle the situation the final year examinations of MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) and nursing courses have been advanced. "As many as 145 new doctors have joined the service on Monday," he said.

He also said that the hospitals in the State are increasing the number of ICU beds. Beds with ICU facilities were added in the Kalapapahar Hospital, GMCH, MMCH, etc.

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