Patients from Delhi putting strain on Haryana hospitals, says Khattar
Assures that his govt won’t deny facilities, adds that Covid graph is surging beyond estimates
CHANDIGARH: Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday said that health institutions of the state are under stress primarily because Delhi-based Covid-19 patients have taken admission in hospitals from Gurugram to Ambala.
“We will not deny health facilities to Delhi-based patients in our health institutions. Patients from Delhi are coming to Gurugram and in some cases up to Ambala in large numbers,” Khattar said at a press conference in Chandigarh, admitting that the administration had not anticipated the size and scale of the second Covid-19 wave.
Over the past three days, Haryana has logged over 11,000 new cases daily.
Khattar said once the caseload of Delhi stabilises, it will reduce pressure on Haryana also as the flow of patients to the state will slow down.
Says what hit us is nothing short of tsunami
Stating that meeting the demand of medical oxygen was the biggest challenge before the state government, he said no one had imagined that there would be such a massive demand for oxygen cylinders.
Khattar said Covid is not just on the rise, but its graph is surging beyond estimates.
“One can expect a deluge in the rainy season and prepare accordingly, but what has hit us is nothing short of a tsunami,” he said.
Tankers being flown to Odisha
The transportation of medical oxygen was another area of concern and he pointed out that the state was facing a shortage of tankers to transport the oxygen.
The state government despatched five tankers to Odisha to fetch the oxygen by road.
The chief minister said two
tankers were being sent to Odisha by air and they will come back by road with the oxygen.
Under the revised plan, Haryana was allocated 70 MT of medical oxygen from Odisha. “After we start receiving and supplying 232 MT of oxygen, we will be able to assess the requirement,” he said, urging people to come forward and fight the pandemic unitedly.
Sale of remdesivir and tocilizumab restricted
The Haryana government on Wednesday restricted sale and distribution of experimental injectable drugs such as remdesivir and tocilizumab.
The two injections are used to treat patients of Covid-19.
Business houses assure support to Haryana govt
Khattar said that amid the Covid-19 pandemic-induced crisis, many companies have come forward to contribute and support the state government in its fight against the virus.
Khattar on Wednesday spoke to representatives of big companies through video conferencing and appealed for cooperation.
Representatives of companies including Hero MotoCorp, DLF Limited, Power Finance Corporation, Honda, Minda Group, IFFCO Tokyo General Insurance Company Limited, Vivekananda Arogya Kendra of Gurugram, Delhi and other parts of the country interacted with Khattar through video conferencing.