The Covid-19 third wave and previous experiences made the Punjab government ready for the worst. Punjab is almost ready with pediatric intensive care units and also keeping district-based hospitals to be ready for unprecedented challenges that Covid third wave may throw at them. Punjab government is now ready with 850 ventilators in the state to fight the possible menace.
While speaking to The Daily Guardian, IAS Alok Shekhar, Principal Secretary, Health, stated, “We got an emergency Covid fund of around Rs 331 crore, from which we are in process of increasing infrastructure. Right now, 54 neonatal ICU beds and 37 pediatric ICUs are available in the state. We are expanding it further as soon as possible. As far as recruitment of manpower is concerned, we are again adopting speeding methods in recruiting candidates on merit basis.”
In May, the state suffered major mortalities due to Covid-19 and dumped ventilators have been the firing issue for the opposition to malign the government. This time, the Punjab government and health department do not wish to leave an inch of effort that may land them in trouble. For that, the state health department has ensured that all 850 ventilators shall stay in working condition. While talking to The Daily Guardian, Dr Rajesh Bhaskar, Punjab Covid head, stated, “We are updated with 850 ventilators dedicated to pediatric ICUs especially and we are also updating district hospitals for possible menace.”
Level II and Level-III ICUs facilities are getting updated.
Dr Bhaskar added, “We are almost done with adding up beds in government medical colleges for pediatric ICUs levels. For moderate patients, that is, Level II ICUs, we are adding 32 beds per government medical college and for critical patients, that is, Level III ICUs, we are adding up to 12 beds in each government medical college and hospital facility. The same would be available at district hospitals too.”