UMERKOTE: With Covid-19 cases on the rise, Nabarangpur MP Ramesh Chandra Majhi has written to the Additional Chief Secretary of Health department PK Mohapatra seeking an increase in the number of ICU beds and ventilators at the Covid Hospital at Nabarangpur and Koraput Medical College and Hospital.
Expressing concern over the situation at Chandahandi and Dabugaon which have turned as Covid hotbeds, the MP said that the Community Health Centres (CHCs) in these two blocks are being managed by just one doctor. “A lone doctor at Chandahandi CHC is managing the health facility and also looking after Covid patients at the three temporary medical centres (TMCs) in the block.
Similar is the plight of the doctor at Dabugaon block which has two TMCs”, Majhi wrote. The district administration will open one more TMC in Dabugaon on Wednesday. The MP demanded appointment of two more doctors at the two CHCs. Currently, construction is underway to install four ventilators and a 12-bed ICU at the Nabarangpur Covid hospital. The work will be completed within a week.
“However, this arrangement will not suffice to meet the healthcare demands of a rising number of Covid positive patients. Since there is an apprehension of a third wave, lives can be saved by doubling the number of ventilators and ICU beds in the Covid hospital”, Majhi wrote to Mohapatra.
Majhi also asked the Additional Chief Secretary to add 20 ICU beds and 15 ventilators to the SLN Medical College and Hospital, Koraput. The MCH caters to the health needs of patients from Nabarangpur, Koraput, Rayagada and Malkangiri districts. At present, it has only six ICU beds and as many ventilators.