Chief minister Hemant Soren visited the TB Sanatorium at Itki on city outskirts on Friday to look into the possibility of setting up a oxygen-supported facility at the government centre in the wake of a crisis of beds amid a staggering increase in the mumber of Covid-19 cases daily.
Accompanied by district officials, Hemant reached the facility in the afternoon and spent over an hour talking to the authorities there to fast track the process.
Later Hemant told the media that in the last few days, the government had increased beds (oxygen supported) to 9,098 from about 2,500 across the state.
“The government is constantly exploring options to increase beds, mainly oxygen support ones. Following hectic efforts over the last one week, we have now touched 9,098 oxygen beds in the state, which is way higher than what we had before. We are working out ways to install as many beds with oxygen support," he said.
The chief minister said that so far, the trend in the state is that the city hospitals are overwhelmed with cases, while smaller districts like Pakur are barely stressed.
“In Pakur, we have about 100 oxygen beds. But, I have learnt that barely four to five are currently occupied. In contrast, places like Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad are stressed. This is the area which needs to be addressed on priority. We are now planning to create a circuit of districts where we can divert or channelise patients so that rush at the hospitals in bigger cities is minimized. We are brainstorming ways to put underutilised resources in districts to good use,” he said.
According to district officials, the plan is to set up a 300-bed oxygen supported centre at Itki within a fortnight. Itki hospital currently has a 100-bed general ward. Another 50-bed cottage is under construction.
Simultaneously, the state government is also working on plans to convert a portion of the Mega Sports Complex at Hotwar into a Covid care centre with oxygen support. "About 700 beds were laid out at the mega sports complex over two weeks for asymptomatic patients. But these haven't been usebeacuse of a lack of human resources. Deliberations are on to at least convert 200 beds to oxygen and ventilator supported ones at the earliest,” said an official.
