Hospitals to provide O2 therapy

SHILLONG, May 1: The Health Department is ramping up a few hospitals and Corona Care Centres (CCCs) in the state for oxygen therapy to prevent the COVID-19 situation from turning grim.
“We have made provisions for converting TB Hospital at Umsawli, Ganesh Das, Civil Hospital and the CCCs into oxygen therapy centres to be prepared for the surge,” Director of Health Service (MI) Dr Aman War said on Saturday.
He said the available beds in the hospitals will suffice but there was no room for complacency in view of the crumbling of the healthcare delivery system in states that have been better equipped.
“We don’t want this to happen to us. We are ramping up the facilities and logistics to fight with whatever we have,” Dr War said.
He also said the rate of bed occupancy in various hospitals has gone up.
“More people are going to the hospitals if they have symptoms of other diseases. Some test positive with no COVID symptoms but have comorbidities,” he said.
Pointing out that the rate of increase in COVID-19 cases has increased rapidly compared to last year, Dr War said the government hopes to break the chain through a partial lockdown and ease the pressure on the hospitals.
Going by the present rate of positivity, he said there could be 5,000 cases by May 20 with the hospitals handling 350 of these.
“We are ramping up the facilities as we don’t want this to happen,” he added.