BHOPAL: Learning its lesson hard from the Covid-19 second wave, the state government is preparing on war-footing to combat the possible third wave.
Besides focusing on vaccination, the government is concentrating on ramping up its health care infrastructure, be it increasing bed capacity in the hospitals, installation of oxygen plants, ensuring medical supplies, equipment and ramping up health facilities.
In a bid to check the spread of the infection, daily around 70 samples are collected for testing across the state.
On administrative front as well, the government apprehending a new wave in the coming months has extended the 5-day week working rule in government offices to October 31. The order issued by the state government was supposed to be effective till July 31, 2021.
Similarly, the government has extended the ban on movement of buses to Maharashtra till July 28, an official said. The government had suspended the bus services to Maharashtra in March this year following a surge in Covid-19 cases in the neighbouring state.
Medical oxygen plant in Bhopal | FP photo
Focus on increasing bed capacity: At medical front, the health department is working on increasing the bed capacity in the government hospitals. The department aims to increase the number of beds from 19,359 to 27,448 by the end September. The department of medical education currently has 2,983 ICU beds, while the health department has 784 ICU beds. The health department will add 650 beds and DME 575 to the current numbers. By September end, the state aims to have 5021 ICU beds.
3297 dedicated beds for children: The health department and DME have 379 and 644 beds respectively in the pediatric ward of their medical facilities. The two departments will add 964 and 260 beds respectively taking the tally to 2,247. The health department has 200 beds in Pediatrics Intensive Care Units (PICU), while the DME has 326 beds for the children. The two departments will arrange for 320 and 204 more beds in their facilities taking the bed capacity to 1,050. So, there will be 3297 dedicated beds for children
Ensuring regular oxygen supply to hospitals…
Seeing the shortage of oxygen during the second wave, the administration is also ensuing installation of oxygen plants in districts. In Bhopal, oxygen plants are being installed at JP Hospital, Katju Hospital and Bairagarh. Five private hospitals will also have their own oxygen plants. Work is underway for the installation of oxygen plants in other districts.
