SAMBALPURA: 100-bed COVID-19 hospital will be set up at VIMSAR, Burla within next 10 days, announced Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy during his visit to the medical college and hospital on Saturday.
Taking stock of the operations of the COVID-19 facility at VIMSAR, the Chief Secretary said since the existing isolation ward is not sufficient, the Government has decided to develop a full-scale COVID-19 hospital at a separate location on its premises.
“The Government will provide all the required facilities to the district administration for development of the hospital which will be ready within seven to 10 days. The hospital will have a capacity of 100 beds including 20 ICU beds. Besides oxygen and ICU facilities, there is a plan to develop an operation theatre at the COVID-19 hospital,” he said.
When patients visiting VIMSAR for various health ailments test positive for coronavirus, they are shifted to the COVID-19 hospital in Sambalpur. During this process, the infection spreads. If a dedicated hospital comes up at VIMSAR, patients can be directly shifted there which will minimise the risk of cross-infection, Tripathy said.
The Chief Secretary also visited the COVID-19 hospital at Sambalpur on the day. He said, “The hospital is lacking adequate number of staff. For better management of the ICU, we have shifted 10 senior doctors of VIMSAR to this hospital. Besides, we have also decided to provide around 20 to 30 attendants from an outsourcing agency and 30 ANMs to the COVID-19 hospital.” Tripathy further said the recovery rate in Sambalpur of 77 per cent is more than that of the State.
He directed the district administration to intimate the test report details to people within 24 to 48 hours which will help mitigate their anxiety.
Tripathy was accompanied by Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Pradipta Mohapatra, Revenue Divisional Commissioner (North) Niranjan Sahu, Director of Medical Education and Training (DMET) CBK Mohanty, Sambalpur Collector Subham Saxena and SP Kanwar Vishal Singh.