Minister of Health & Family Welfare, S Pangnyu Phom made a statement under rule 55 pertaining to COVID-19 Pandemic during the 8th Session of the 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly on 5th August 2021.
Phom stated that the first wave required urgent measures in the form of imposition of lockdowns to curtail the spread of virus and take steps to strengthen our healthcare systems, the Government had taken steps by strengthening our testing facilities, creating posts and recruiting healthcare professionals in an expeditious manner. He said that requisite infrastructure, critical care equipment and ambulances were also provided to the district hospitals and a State Warehouse was set up at Kohima to modernize the supply chain management, supported by a robust IT platform.
Stating that the second wave of COVID-19 has been much more severe than the first wave, Phom said that the State had more than 15,600 cases at a positivity rate of 11.5% in the four-month period comprising the second way as compared to the 11,927 cases at a positivity rate of 9.7% for the nearly one-year period of the first wave. He added that the State Government took a number of timely steps to respond against the second wave and meeting the new challenges it threw at the healthcare delivery system.
To augment the human resources, he informed that 390 posts were created in 2020 specifically keeping in view the requirements on account of COVID and around 150 resultant vacancy posts were also filled up in an expeditious manner. 150 MOs, 14 Specialists, 258 Nurses, 5 Dental Surgeons, 23 AYUSH MOs, 6 Research Scientists and 6 BSL Lab Technicians, 54 ANMs/FHWs, 11 OT technicians and 10 ECG technicians were appointed to meet the requirement of healthcare professionals for COVID-19 and incentives were also announced for private doctors, he added.
The Minister mentioned that to meet the need for immediate augmentation of beds, private hospitals were also mandated for management of COVID-19 patients. Available resources were shared with the private hospitals and their capacities also enhanced. He said that to meet the increased hospitalization, bed strength was ramped up, which was 805 with 608 Beds without oxygen support, 68 Beds with oxygen support, 68 ICU beds without ventilators and 61 ICU beds with ventilators before the second wave to 1153 beds with 296 beds without oxygen support, 669 Beds with oxygen support, 99 ICU beds without ventilators and 89 ICU beds with ventilators respectively. He informed that a 200 bedded hospital is being built, with 24 paediatric beds, for acute medical care in CIHSR Dimapur which is likely to get operational by September, adding that the hospital, will be immensely useful, should there be a third wave of COVID-19 pandemic.
Phom stated that the Department procured oxygen cylinders on a war footing and has nearly 6,000 cylinders of various capacities as compared to 1,417 cylinders at the beginning of the pandemic the previous year with the total capacity of oxygen that can be stored in the cylinders amounting to more than 17.5 Metric Ton. He mentioned that PSA Oxygen Generation Plants along with oxygen piping and generator backup have been installed at Kohima, Dimapur, Mokokchung, Tuensang and Phek to ensure availability of bedside oxygen and these plants have a daily capacity of 3.7 Metric Ton. He added that PSA Plants have been procured and are under installation for other districts also. More than 2,000 concentrators have been procured or received through various sources oxygen concentrators and have been deployed at various medical facilities and have strengthened the oxygen supply chain, putting in place a State Depot in Dimapur and a Zonal Depot at Mokokchung. Resultantly, despite the sudden surge in cases, no patient had to suffer on account of lack of availability of oxygen or hospital beds, he added.
The Minister informed that out of 688 ventilators, 239 have been distributed to various health facilities including private hospitals. Besides the 3 BSL laboratories, he said that 25 Truenat and 362 Rapid Antigen Testing facilities for COVID-19 have been established across the State and a total of 2,63,703 tests have been made since May 2020 to 31st July 2021,.
Stressing on the importance of COVID vaccination, he stated that the government has launched mass Covid Vaccination drives and informed that a total of 7,67,535 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered as of 30th July 2021 covering about 49.3% for the target of 1st dose and 12% for the target of 2nd dose.
Calling upon the House to be prepared for the third wave, Pangnyu Phom informed that a Pediatric Task Force has been set-up under a senior Director of the H&FW with experts drawn from the private and public sector to look into our preparedness.
The Minister appreciated all the efforts being put in by all concerned and thanked the healthcare workers and frontline workers, both in the private and government sector, who have put in their best efforts, performing their duties for long working hours and under stressful conditions. He added that everyone should continue to work together to ensure in addressing the challenges of COVID pandemic in the State.
(WepreKronu, Temjenkaba, Esuihangle&Takumpula)