Indore: Hey Prabhu! Health minister unaware of Covid strains

Indore: Hey Prabhu! Health minister unaware of Covid strains

Staff ReporterUpdated: Thursday, May 13, 2021, 01:51 AM IST
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A woman flashes victory sign as she gets inoculated with a dose of Covishield vaccine against the Covid-19 coronavirus at a vaccination centre of the Rajawadi Hospital in Mumbai. | (Photo by AFP)

Indore: Believe it or not, Madhya Pradesh health minister Dr Prabhuram Choudhary, who is leading the fight against corona, has no idea as to how many strains of the virus are prevalent in the state.

The health minister, during his maiden visit to Indore after getting the health portfolio, told reporters on Wednesday, “We have sent samples to identify the strain to laboratories outside the state. We don’t have this facility in the state. All those patients whose samples have been sent for testing are healthy.” This was not the only when the health minister was caught napping. While replying to a query, he was unable to give the number of samples sent for genome sequencing so far.

Rubbishing the allegation of government hiding death data, he said that large number of pyres in crematoriums does not mean that all bodies are Covid bodies. “There are three categories, positive, suspected and Covid negative bodies,” he said and added, “The situation is under control and improving as number of daily positive cases has dropped below 10,000 in the last two to three days.”

Defending the government over lack of preparations for the second wave, he said, “Nobody expected such an intense wave. We have never seen such a situation in our life. Conditions have deteriorated across the nation. We are now in control.”

He said that supply of oxygen and remdesivir has been normalized. Around 2.4L vials arrived in state and 43,000 of them were allotted to Indore.

“We have alerted doctors about Mucormycosis known as Black Fungus. About 50 cases have been detected so far. We have prepared a guideline to prevent and treat the same. We have also empanelled many hospitals under AYUSHMAN Bharat Scheme and are running the Chief Minister Covid Treatment Scheme to ensure treatment to all patients. Over 1,013 beds are available in Indore hospitals, including 459 ICU beds,” he said.

Dr Choudhary said that the state government has started preparations for the third wave of the pandemic.

Will vaccinate as per availability of vaccines

Replying to queries on vaccination, Dr Choudhary said that orders have been placed with manufacturing companies and would soon receive the dosages. “Vaccination of above 18 years is already underway. The drive will be intensified once we receive nine lakh more doses by May 20,” the health minister said.

He also visited Covid control room and talked over phone with patients in home isolation to check facilities and consultation provided to them.

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