The Bengal government has decided to open Covid-19 hospitals in Cooch Behar and Alipurduar as the two districts have recorded a large number of cases and there is pressure on the facility to treat coronavirus patients in Siliguri.
Almost 70 per cent of the beds are occupied at Chhang’s Super Specialty Hospital, the private nursing home that has turned into the Covid-19 hospital in Siliguri, as most of the patients in Alipurduar and Cooch Behar districts are referred there.
“There are 86 beds at the nursing home and 65 of them are occupied now,” said a source in the state health department.
Similar is the situation at three quarantine centres in the Siliguri subdivision. The quarantine facility at Hatighisha in Naxalbari block has 41 beds. Those at Limbutari in Phansidewa block has 200 beds and at Batasi in Kharibari block 90 beds.
As of now, 35 persons are staying at the centre in Hatighisha, 181 at Limbutari and 70 at Batasi.
“The pressure is mounting on the Siliguri hospital as new patients are coming in from other districts. The number of people at the quarantine centres are rising every day. So, it has been decided to set up two hospitals for Covid-19 patients, one each in Alipurduar and Cooch Behar. We hope both the hospitals will be functional soon,” said state tourism minister Gautam Deb.
The minister, who held a meeting with officials of the Darjeeling district administration and the state health department, said a decision had been taken to add 20 more beds to the Siliguri Covid-19 hospital.
“There is also a plan to establish a quarantine centre in each of the 22 panchayats in the Siliguri subdivision for accommodation of suspected coronavirus patients. The Darjeeling district magistrate will speak to representatives of private nursing homes to develop some isolation wards at these health establishments,” Deb said.
The health department, he said, has been instructed to develop isolation units at the Siliguri District Hospital, Kurseong subdivisional hospital and the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital here.
