India News | COVID: 800 Oxygen-supported Beds Added in Jammu Region to Enhance Capacity

Jammu, May 12 (PTI) The Jammu and Kashmir administration has added nearly 800 more oxygen-supported beds in the region in a week to augment the existing bed capacity amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, officials said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, bed capacity in two major private hospitals has also gone up by 60 beds.

Secretary Tribal Affairs and in charge of COVID-19 containment efforts in Jammu province, Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, informed that efforts are being made by management of hospitals, engineering wings and administration for enhancing oxygen-supported bed capacity, which has gone up over the past one week by 800 beds, taking the total oxygen-supported beds in hospitals to 3,283.

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, in a meeting chaired on May 6, had set a target of bed capacity enhancement by 1,325 beds, out of which 800-bed capacity enhancement has been achieved in a week and further expansion is underway.

This is in addition to COVID Care Centres established at local level by the administration where coronavirus patients with mild symptoms are treated.

In view of enhancement in oxygen-supported bed capacity, Government Medical College has 873-bed capacity with addition of 148 more beds, GMC Kathua has 114 beds with addition of 34 more beds, GMC Doda 150 beds with addition of 80 beds, GMC Rajouri 150 beds with 30-bed augmentation, hospitals managed by Directorate of Health Services 1,744 beds with addition of 438 beds, among others, he said.

This is apart from oxygen supported beds in local government and private hospitals, Choudhary said.

He informed that massive efforts are underway in the management of government and private medical colleges, hospitals, health department, engineering wings and with active support of local administration for enhancement in hospital capacities in view of rising number of COVID-19 cases.

He further informed that the administration is also focusing on filling human resource gaps to ensure that doctors and paramedical staff are not pressed to limits. This is being achieved by additional recruitment for which process has been set in motion.

On capacity-building, it was informed that medical supplies and equipment are being regularly made available by the Jammu and Kashmir Medical Supplies Corporation as well as concerned hospital management. Further capacity building is being made to ensure effective response for challenging situation.

Meanwhile, the administration on Wednesday posted three more junior KAS officers with the secretary in charge of COVID-19 mitigation efforts for effective coordination and response system viz-a-viz monitoring of initiatives and providing required assistance.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)