Arunachal chief minister Pema Khandu on Monday said “Arunachal Pradesh is better placed than many other states in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, all thanks to the dedication of the frontline workers including the police and administration.”
“We should take heart in the fact that though positive cases are being detected every day, however, a good number of people are also being cured,” he said.
Khandu, who was at Chimpu near here to inspect the newly established and exclusive dedicated Covid-19 hospital, said “with the scenic and state-of-the-art infrastructure, coupled with all the modern equipment and system required for treating Covid patients, Arunachal can now claim to have one of the best facilities to deal with the pandemic in the north east.”
Interacting with the doctors, health officials and staff of the dedicated Covid hospital, Khandu lauded their zeal and dedication for getting the facility ready in a record time of two weeks.
He asserted that lockdowns, despite being harsh, had to be implemented to make time for such facilities to come up.
“Intensive care unit (ICU) facilities with ventilators have also reached the districts and we assure to provide whatever the health experts require. In fact, today we are ready,” the chief minister said.
Khandu further said the pandemic has made the government analyze the gaps in the health sector and for which the government has decided to make it the top priority sector and spend about Rs 400 crore on it in the next two years.
While informing that shortage of doctors and nurses is being tackled by way of recruitment, he announced that nurses working under National Health Mission (NHM) will be regularized in a phased manner.
On being informed that the newly established hospital lacks a CT scan facility, Khandu assured that it would be taken care of.
The chief minister’s visit also marked the commencement of the hospital’s services which has been established at the MLA apartments as an extension of the Naharlagun based Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (TRIHMS).
Earlier, local residents had objected to the proposal for turning the MLA apartments into a Covid Hospital, which was subsequently resolved through several sessions of dialogue headed by home minister Bamang Felix, Capital deputy commissioner Komkar Dulom, TRIHMS director Dr Moji Jini and Capital SP Tumme Amo.
The Covid hospital at the moment has a 10-bedded ICU with monitors, suction apparatus, ventilators, etc, 16-bedded male and 16-bedded female wards, a fully equipped operation theater, labour room, neonatal ICU, a 2-bedded dialysis unit, X-Ray, ultra-sound and a full-fledged laboratory.