Tura, Jan 12: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Friday inaugurated the new Oxygen plant at the Tura Christian Hospital and termed it as ‘an achievement that would be satisfying not only to Tura and Garo Hills but to the entire state as a whole’.
Speaking during the inaugural function at the Garo Baptist Convention campus at Mission Compound, Conrad said that out of the three facilities that were opened on the day, the Oxygen plant was the most satisfying. He added that getting the new plant would not only be satisfying to Tura town and Garo Hills region, but the same would be viewed as a valuable achievement for the state, as it would mean saving more lives in future.
Speaking about the various works being done by the government through the medical department, Conrad claimed that the maternal mortality rate which was much higher prior to his government taking charge has been reduced to a considerable extent. Asserting that he was not attempting to gain political mileage but merely stating the facts, Conrad said that things were not as it is in the medical field prior to his government taking over in 2018. He added that it was the situation during the time that prompted him to take steps to make things better.
“Meghalaya, you’ll be happy to know, is number one in terms of budget expenditure that we spend on healthcare. That means in the entire country our percentage of expenditure on health is 8% which is the highest in the country today. In vaccination, we were at number 27 but we are at number 2 today,” he claimed.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister also announced that he would be providing Rs 27 lakhs from the CM’s Special fund for construction of an examination hall for the nursing school, as first part of the sanction.
Earlier, Meghalaya Speaker and North Tura MLA, Thomas A Sangma while addressing the gathering also assured that Rs 20 lakhs would be given by him towards the upgradation of the OPD at the hospital, while Mahendraganj MLA Sanjay A Sangma would provide Rs 3 lakhs for the same.