Jammu, May 8 (PTI) Efforts are on to increase the number of beds with oxygen support in hospitals across Jammu and Kashmir in the shortest possible time, Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education, Atal Dulloo said on Saturday.

Dulloo was speaking at a meeting to review COVID containment and mitigation measures being taken up by hospitals of both the divisions of Jammu and Kashmir, an official spokesman said.

He said the financial commissioner had a threadbare discussion on the trend of daily cases being recorded, COVID testing capacity, district-wise assessment of COVID surge and level of transmission in the Kashmir and Jammu divisions of the Union Territory.

Dulloo also reviewed the functioning of dedicated COVID hospitals, bed occupancy and oxygen inventory besides status of the vaccination drive in Jammu and Kashmir.

Elaborating on initiatives being taken up by different agencies to provide succour to people, the financial commissioner said the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is constructing 500 bed hospitals at Bhagwati Nagar in Jammu and Reshi Pora in Budgam in Kashmir

These are is expected to be made functional within thenext 15 days, he said.

"This will greatly enhance the existing healthcare edifice in the Union Territory to cater to the people in distress due to the prevailing pandemic," Dulloo added.

The meeting also discussed measures being taken up by authorities for providing sufficient infrastructure to healthcare institutions.

The financial commissioner asked the chief mechanical engineers of both the Jammu and Kashmir divisions to ensure speedy completion of oxygen generation, the spokesman said.

He also directed hospital managements to provide oxygen as per requirement of the patient ensuring that no one suffers on this account.

Dulloo asked the directors of health services of both the divisions to provide every support regarding men and machinery besides other requisite equipment to ensure hospitals function smoothly.

(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)