HP makes Covid vaccine free for people in 18-44 age bracket Shimla hospitals struggle to cope with patient rush
Hill state records 1,774 fresh coronavirus infections, 18 patients succumb
SHIMLA : The Himachal Pradesh cabinet on Thursday decided to vaccinate people in 18 -44 age bracket free of cost.
The Cabinet, which was headed by chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, also directed all government officials employed at hospitals or health institutions to vaccinate themselves.
Mobile teams will be formed at the block level to provide better treatment to the patients under home isolation and a vehicle will be exclusively assigned for shifting critical patients to hospitals, the Cabinet decided. Each medical college will have a dedicated team to supervise Covid cases.
It decided to provide incentives to outsourced employees engaged in tackling the Covid pandemic. Each employee will be paid an additional ₹200 per shift. Patients under home isolation will get a nutrition kit, the Cabinet decided. The body also decided to regularise the services of daily and contingent workers who have completed five years of continuous service as on March 31, 2021 or will complete service on September 30, 2021 against the available vacant posts in different departments; contractual employees who have completed three years of services as on March 31, 2021 or will complete three years on September
31, 2021 in different departments of the state government. Part-time workers completing eight years of continuous services in government departments will be made daily wagers.
Nineteen posts of technical and ministerial staff at the state Seri Entrepreneurship Development and Innovation Centre at Balichowki in Mandi district will be advertised.
The Cabinet accorded consent to fill two posts of block development officers in the rural development department through direct recruitment.
Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh on Thursday recorded 1,774 fresh Covid infections, taking the state’s case count to 82,876 while the death toll mounted to 1,241 after 18 patients succumbed.
The active cases shot up to 11,859 while recoveries reached 69,747 after 689 people recuperated.
Hospitals in Shimla district are struggling to cope with the rising number of Covid-19 patients.
The main Covid-designated hospitals, Indira Gandhi Medical College in Shimla, Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College (RPGMC), Tanda, and Dharamshala Zonal Hospital in Kangra district are packed to capacity or are seeing a heavy footfall these days.
IGMC senior medical superintendent Janakraj Pakhretia said: “We have 150 beds, and they are all occupied. More beds are being placed to meet the growing demand. Right now, we have adequate stock of oxygen and medicines.” Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital in Shimla that has been designated as a Covid hospital has a total bed capacity of 90 beds of which 55 are occupied at present. Its medical superintendent Rajendra Mokta confirmed adequate stock of medicines.
The rush is more at IGMC because it is a tertiary hospital where Covid cases from districts such as Kullu, Bilaspur and Kinnaur are being referred besides the influx from Shimla district.
In view of the increasing caseload, the IGMC authorities changed the OPD timings two days ago.
Himachal Pradesh has total capacity of 2,302 beds and so far, 35% of the beds are occupied across the state. A total of 802 beds are occupied. A majority of the patients suffering from Covid-19 prefer home isolation.
Due to the rush, people in Shimla have to wait for nearly 48 hours to get their Covid test reports. Shimla has only one laboratory at IGMC to check for Covid, while the other nearby facility is the Central Research Institute in Kasauli, which caters to samples collected in Solan and Sirmaur districts.
Bed occupancy goes up in J&K
JAMMU: With the spike in coronavirus cases across Jammu and Kashmir, the number of occupied Covid beds has also increased.
A senior health official said that there are around 600 dedicated ventilators across the UT, of which only 48 are occupied at present. “The bed occupancy suggests the situation is not alarming as yet but of course we have to be on guard and we are augmenting our capacities,” the official said.
An analysis revealed that Government Medical College and Hospital, Jammu, has 203 Covid beds,of which 162 are occupied; of 83 ICU beds with ventilators, 30 are occupied. Similarly, Chest Diseases Hospital, Jammu, has 110 Covid beds, all of which are vacant.
However, the hospital has no ventilator beds for critical patients.
UT logs 1,965 cases, 8 deaths
SRINAGAR : Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday reported 1,965 novel coronavirus infections, taking the Union territory’s overall case tally to 1,54,407. With eight Covid-induced fatalities — six in Kashmir and two in Jammu — the total death toll reached 2,092, health officials said..