CHIMPU, Aug 10: The state’s first exclusively dedicated Covid-19 hospital at the MLA apartments here in the capital region is all set to start its services.
Chief Minister Pema Khandu inspected the hospital on Monday. The dedicated Covid-19 hospital is an extension of the Tomo Riba Institute of Health & Medical Science (TRIHMS), Naharlagun.
TRIHMS Director Dr Moji Jini informed that, “tomorrow (Tuesday) morning, the entire hospital complex will be sanitized and, if possible, all the Covid-19 positive symptomatic patients currently at the TRIHMS will be shifted by late afternoon.
“In any case, this hospital will be fully functional from Wednesday, with our doctors staying in the complex 24/7,” he said.
The chief minister expressed satisfaction that the hospital is all set to receive Covid-19 positive patients, but prayed that the hospital remains “patient-less for as long as possible.”
Interacting with the doctors, health officials and staff of the hospital, the CM lauded their zeal and dedication in getting the facility ready in a record time of two weeks.
He said that, with the state-of-the-art infrastructure, coupled with all the required equipment and system in place at the hospital, “Arunachal Pradesh can claim to have one of the best facilities in the Northeast to deal with the pandemic.”
“We are thankful for the dedication of all frontline workers, including the police and the administration, that today we are far better placed than many of the states in controlling the virus. We should take heart in the fact that, though every day positive cases are detected, more numbers of people are also being cured,” he said.
Khandu said that lockdowns, despite being harsh, had to be implemented to make time for such facilities to come up.
“ICU facilities with ventilators have also reached the districts,” Khandu informed, and assured to provide health experts “as per requirement.”
Reiterating that the pandemic has made the government analyze the gaps in the health sector, he said the state government has decided to make health the “top priority sector” and spend about Rs 400 crore on it in the next two years.
“The shortage of doctors and nurses is being tackled by way of recruitment,” the CM said, and announced that nurses working under the NHM will be regularized in a phased manner.
When informed about the lack of CT scan facility at the newly-established hospital, Khandu gave assurance that “it will be taken care of.”
Speaker Pasang D Sona, DCM Chowna Mein and Health Minister Alo Libang, who accompanied the CM, also lauded the efforts put in by the health department, the TRIHMS, the district administration and the police in making the hospital see the light of day.
The Covid-19 hospital has a 10-bedded ICU with monitors, suction apparatus, ventilators, etc, besides a 16-bedded male ward, a 16-bedded female ward, a fully equipped operation theatre, a labour room, a neonatal ICU, a two-bedded dialysis unit, X-ray, ultrasound, and a full-fledged laboratory. (CM’s PR Cell)
