SHILLONG: Notwithstanding the skyrocket in state’s COVID-19 cases, the private hospitals in the city seem to be shying away from their onuses.
On Tuesday, the Director of NEIGRIHMS, Dr P Bhattacharya, made a fervent appeal to the private hospitals to pull up their socks in the fight against the menace of COVID-19.
Dr Bhattacharya said that it is surprising as to why the commitment of the private hospitals in the ongoing fight is scant as often, patients are first tested for COVID-19 and then referred to NEIGRIHMS.
Stating that the pressure on NEIGRIHMS has been gargantuan with scores of patients coming in, the Director said that they are not asking anyone to be at a loss.
Despite running COVID ICUs besides an isolation ward, Bhattacharya said NEIGRIHMS, just like any other hospital, too has its limitation.
He also said that NEIGRIHMS has been treating patients from all over the North East.
Asked about his views on home quarantine protocols, the Director said that though there are a lot of criticisms on home quarantine, yet the protocol allows the patient to be in the comfort of home, adding that are standards set for it.
“If people go for home quarantine, it would reduce the load on the infrastructure,” he said.
Exhorting people to not disregard the threat of COVID, he said, “The moment one tries to deny or bury one’s head in the sand, it (COVID-19) will spread more.”
Sate gets plasma bank
After a long delay, Meghalaya finally got its first plasma bank which was made operational at NEIGRIHMS on Tuesday with six BSF personnel donating their plasma.
The plasma collection was organised by the NEIGRIHMS bloood bank in collaboration with the BSF Frontier Headquarters.
Medical Superintendent of BSF Composite Hospital, AC Bharadwajan hailed the launch of the plasma bank and informed that 10 BSF jawans will donate plasma in the first phase.