RANCHI: A day after a committee of experts, constituted under the National Institute of Disaster Management, warned of an imminent third wave of Covid that could peak around October and sought better medical preparedness for children who might be at similar risk as adults, the state health department conducted a review of Jharkhand’s preparedness to tackle the third wave.
Talking to TOI after the review meeting, the MD of National Health Mission’s unit, Umashankar Singh, said, “Our preparedness for the third wave is fully in sync with the expected progress. We have completed the setting up of paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) beds in all 24 districts.
There are a few gaps in a few districts regarding the ICUs and the district authorities concerned have been directed to ensure that these gaps are completed within a month.” As per state health department records, a total of 1,180 oxygen-equipped beds for paediatric patients have been set up across the state and a total of 307, out of 455 high dependency unit (HDU) beds, have been arranged for adult patients.
In ICUs, a total of 12,795 beds have been set up across the state. A few districts, however, have lagged behind in completing the work as per their set target and they have been asked to expedite it. “Six districts are falling short of their target by 30 beds. They have been asked to complete the work within a month,” a senior official, who attended the meeting, on condition of anonymity said.
The meeting also took stock of manpower requirements, the availability of ventilators and medicines, among others, and the deputy commissioners and civil surgeons concerned have been asked to fill in the gaps at the earliest. Upon contact, state IDSP head Dr Praveen Karn said, “All aspects of our preparedness for the impending third wave were reviewed in the meeting and we are focussing not only on improving our infrastructural facilities but also hiring adequate manpower and making sure that medicines are available.”
