HOUSE PANEL APPLAUDS PGIMER’S HANDLING OF COVID

The Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare reached PGIMER Chandigarh on Thursday after visiting the primary healthcare centre of Dadu Majra. Committee members and the chairman appreciated the PGIMER team for their impeccable service, specifically during the second Covid-19 wave. The committee applauded the efforts that went into managing oxygen supply and not letting any patient suffer due to shortage of oxygen, when the whole country suffered from an acute shortage of oxygen.

The PGIMER administration produced their Covid data, Ayushman beneficiary data and research data before the committee. The committee, led by Ram Gopal Yadav, asked some more questions to the PGIMER administration that PGIMER would answer in a written form and send them later in a few days. As per PGIMER’s official data, 27,000 beneficiaries of the Ayushman Bharat Yojana had already taken treatment from PGIMER.

While talking to the committee, PGIMER apprised the members that they had trained 18 institutes of the country on RT-PCR and Gene Expert testing. Also, they had treated more than 15 lakh non-Covid patients during the pandemic through tele-consultation, whereas cancer, and gynaecology OPDs were working throughout the pandemic period. Medical Superintendent Dr A.K. Gupta told the committee that the institute had treated more than 8,200 Covid-19 patients from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, UP, and J&K, in the moderate to sick categories.

The team members, along with chairman Ram Gopal Yadav, are Indubala Goswami, Dr L. Hanumanthaiah, Dr SanghamitraMaurya, Arjunlal Meena, K. Navaskani, Adoor Prakash, Hazi Fazlur Rehman, Dr Rajdeep Roy, Dr D.N. VSenthikumar S, Dr Mahesh Sharma, Dr Sujey Radhakrishna Vikhepatil and Dr Krishan Pal Singh Yadav. The parliamentary committee has different agendas to discuss with PGIMER, UT Chandigarh health department, Punjab, and Haryana, including how states are working on Covid vaccines, Ayushman Bharat, Covid-19 related research, and cancer care for the poor. A team of 20 members visited different health facilities in UT Chandigarh, Punjab, and Haryana.