Ranchi: The UNICEF on Saturday donated 800 oxygen concentrators and 20 lakh masks, among others, to chief minister Hemant Soren to help the state government in its fight against Covid-19.
UNICEF’s chief of field office (Jharkhand unit) Prasanta Dash met the CM and a few health department officials in Ranchi to hand over the supplies.
Hemant, while thanking the UN agency, said, “We appreciate UNICEF’s support in this critical period.
UNICEF has been a valued partner in Jharkhand and I am sure that these critical supplies will help the most vulnerable receive medical aid and help us win the fight against Covid-19.
The UN agency’s life-saving work is commendable and I thank them for their assistance.” Besides the oxygen concentrators and masks, UNICEF has also donated cold chain equipment and RT-PCR machines to the health department, Dash said.
“In the past one year, the healthcare system has been put under a lot of strain.
There is immense pressure on the doctors and nurses and despite their best efforts, much remains to be done for providing timely medical help to the patients.
As part of our technical support, we decided to provide the government with critical care supplies,” he said, adding, “These equipment will strengthen the state’s fight against Covid-19.” The state unit of UNICEF is also working closely with the National Health Mission and other government departments to promote Covid-appropriate behaviour, including wearing of masks, frequent sanitisation of hands and maintaining physical distance, among the commoners.
“We have strengthened our communication and community-engagement programmes, including generating age and gender-tailored messages in order to provide guidance to the care-givers.
We are also providing essential items like soap and detergent to the high-risk and vulnerable population to help them maintain a basic hygiene level,” Dash said.
The CM was flanked by additional chief secretary (health) Arun Kumar Singh and his secretary Vinay Kumar Choubey who also expressed their gratitude to UNICEF.