Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Saturday held a virtual meeting with the state heads of all political parties in Ranchi to discuss strategies to contain the spread of Covid-19.
“We would like to take views of all political parties in the state and have invited all their state heads for a virtual meeting on the Covid scenario, what is being done by the government and what is being planned. We would also take opinions of each of the party representatives before announcing our decision in the wake of the unprecedented rise in the number of Covid cases in the state,” said a senior official in the chief minister’s office in Ranchi before the virtual meeting.
Earlier, the chief minister held discussions with senior bureaucrats, including chief secretary Sukhdeo Singh, health secretary Kamal Kishore Soan and others, at his residence on the Covid scenario in the state.
After the meeting with senior officials, Soren said the government would provide medical kits to all Covid patients undergoing home isolation. The kits would contain medicines, oximeter, masks and other required materials. Apart from this, all anganwadis (Integrated Child Development Scheme centres) would be supplied with pulse oximeter to record the oxygen concentration of infants and mothers. The health secretary was directed to employ on contract educated youths who have done paramedical courses to bridge the trained manpower shortage in health centres.
On Saturday evening, Soren wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow the use of doctors and paramedics associated with the central paramilitary forces stationed in Jharkhand and military hospitals to help the state in the fight against the pandemic.
“I wrote today to Prime Minister @narendramodiji to allow the use of doctors and paramedical associated with high number of Central paramilitary forces stationed in the state to support us in this battle,” Soren tweeted at 7.30pm.
The letter to the Prime Minister states that Jharkhand is an extremism affected-state and a large number of paramilitary forces like the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) and the SSB (Sashastra Seema Bal) have been deployed in the state to fight this extremism.
“During the review meeting it came to my notice that each such company of CPMFs (central para-military forces) deployed in Jharkhand is manned by a certain number of doctors and paramedics. Similarly there are two military hospitals (at Ranchi and Ramgarh). I feel the contingent of doctors and paramedics available with the aforesaid establishments can be of immense help in case they are deployed for the treatment and management of Covid-19 patients,” Soren said.
He requested the Prime Minister to direct the Union home and defence ministries to issue necessary instruction for permitting the state government to deploy doctors and paramedics of CPMFs and military hospitals for treatment of Covid-19 cases.
Soren had already directed officials for increasing the number of RT-PCR machines to enhance testing of Covid suspects and improving facilities at the hospitals for treatment of patients.
“The government is keeping a watch on the scenario closely and will announce some more stricter rules in the days to come to contain Covid-19 in the state,” the official said.
Jharkhand has imposed a sort of night curfew with all shops and commercial establishments, barring emergency services, being closed after 8pm till morning and prohibited gathering of more than four persons at a place. The government has also closed educational institutions, gyms and other public places and prohibited congregation of any kind, apart from strict enforcement of Covid protocols.
National Students’ Union of India (student wing of the Congress) state vice-president Indrajit Singh on Saturday wrote to the chief minister requesting for the deferment of competitive examinations in view of the sharp rise in Covid cases and high number of deaths in the state.
“We have seen that the CBSE, ICSE and even universities have cancelled or postponed their examinations. We have requested the state government to cancel or defer the Jharkhand Public Service Commission combined civil preliminary exams on May 2, the primary teacher training exam to be conducted by the Jharkhand Academic Council on April 23, matric and intermediate board exam to be conducted by the JAC from May 4 and the diploma in pharmacy exam to be conducted by the Jharkhand State Pharmacy Council on April 19 in view of threat to the examines due to the rise in Covid cases,” said Indrajit.
On Friday, the state registered an all-time high of 3,843 fresh Covid-19 cases and 56 deaths. The total number of positive cases stand at 155,115 of which 1,30,694 patients have been discharged.
Jharkhand governor Draupadi Murmu tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday and was admitted to the Medica Superspeciality Hospital in Ranchi.
Koderma BJP MP Annapurna Devi and BJP Sindri MLA Indrajit Mahato also tested positive for the virus. While Ananpurna is in home isolation, Mahato, who was suffering breathing difficulties, was airlifted to Hyderabad for treatment.
