PATNA: Health minister Mangal Pandey on Saturday said all hospitals in the state have been asked to make advance planning to face any surge in Covid cases in the coming days.
The minister told this newspaper that though there was no immediate threat of return of Covid as the third wave, review of the existing health facilities and forward planning would help in facing any situation.
He said no case of Delta Plus variant of Covid has so far been detected in the state.
Pandey, however, said 20 samples of Covid positive patients have been sent to a Bhubaneshwar laboratory for confirmation of the strain of Delta Plus reported from some states.
He added 50 samples would be sent to the same laboratory on Monday.
“We have actually planned to send at least 100 samples from the state for confirmation of the new variant,” Pandey added.
The minister said soon after witnessing the surge in covid cases in its second wave, the health department had started preparations on different fronts like recruitment of doctors, installation of oxygen plants, strengthening of the government hospitals, including medical colleges, and supply of additional instruments based on modern technology.
He said, “The health department will soon get 250 new ambulances which will be made available to different districts to carry people to district hospitals or the nearest medical colleges from rural areas.” Meanwhile, with the cases of the new variant Delta Plus increasing in some states, all major hospitals in the state capital have begun reviewing their facilities.
Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) superintendent Dr I S Thakur said though no specific alert regarding the new Covid variant has been issued by the state government, the process of enhancing oxygen availability was underway.
“One liquid oxygen plant has already been installed at PMCH and it will be made functional in a week,” he said, adding another plant to be provided by the Indian Oil Corporation will have the capacity to generate 5,000 litres of oxygen per minute.
Dr Thakur said despite the number of Covid patients declining to four at the hospital, the 100-bed Covid ward is still functioning.
“The paediatric ward has 40 beds for treatment of Covid-infected children.
We will use all the 200 beds of this department for Covid treatment if required,” he added.
The Nalanda Medical College and Hospital is busy installing a cryogenic oxygen plant to fill at least 1,000 cylinders per day, hospital’s superintendent Dr Binod Kumar Singh said.
“We have sent the names of paediatricians, medical officers and nursing staff for online training to be organised by the health department,” he said.