ITANAGAR, Sep 18: Giving yet another boost to the fight against COVID-19, Chief Minister Pema Khandu dedicated four more pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants in the service of the people of the state.
These four plants, sanctioned by the Centre under PM CARES Fund, have been installed in District Hospitals at Hayuliang (Anjaw), Raga (Kamle) & Roing (Lower Dibang Valley) and at Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (TRIHMS), Naharlagun.
Virtually inaugurating the plants from Bomdila on Friday, Khandu said this is a “gift” to the people of the state from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose 71st birth anniversary was being celebrated on the day.
“With these four (plants), we today have 24 functional PSA plants across the state in various hospitals,” Khandu informed.
He said as per the Health Department’s plan, by the October end all proposed PSA plants in the state will be made functional, taking the total number of oxygen plants to 44 generating 12650 LPM in all.
“The importance of oxygen in our fight against COVID-19 became evident in the 2nd wave of the pandemic. Fortunately, I was forewarned by experts and therefore could manage to get 100 oxygen beds ready before the 2nd wave hit our state. Thanks to the central government under Modiji, we today have more than 1000 oxygen beds for the needy. We will ensure that no patient loses his or her life for lack of oxygen,” he said.
Assuring that the state is slowly emerging out of the grip of the pandemic’s second onslaught, Khandu expressed gratitude to the health workers and departmental officials for toiling night and day without rest to save people.
“Unfortunately we lost more lives in the 2nd wave than during the first but our health workers could manage to not let the death toll go out of hand. Because of them (health workers and officials) the situation in our state was always under control,” he observed.
The Chief Minister also attributed the vigorous vaccination drive in controlling the number of deaths due to COVID. “Healthcare workers are the real heroes of our vaccination drive. Today we are vaccinating people in crores across the country. Half the battle will be won when at least half of our population will be completely vaccinated,” he said.
Khandu though cautioned that the battle against COVID-19 was far from over. Stating that vaccination does not shield a person completely from the virus, he called upon the people to “learn to live with the virus” and said the only way to do so is by following the prescribed SOPs religiously.
One good thing from the pandemic, Khandu felt, was the lesson learnt on significance of a robust health scenario. “We have learnt our lesson. Today, our focus is on improving health infrastructure across the state,” he said.
He informed that all the District Hospitals are being upgraded - both manpower and equipment wise. He urged the respective legislators and district administrations to fix a timeline and monitor the progress strictly.
Khandu further informed that besides the DHs, one hospital each in all 60 Assembly constituencies will be upgraded with requisite infrastructure and equipment. “I have asked the legislators, in consultation with district officials, to identify one hospital each in their respective constituency for the same. Most probably upgradation work will start within this year,” he revealed.
The dedication ceremony was virtually attended by Health Minister Alo Libang, legislators, deputy commissioners and district medical officers of the concerned districts.