SHILLONG: Health and Family Welfare Minister Alexander Laloo Hek on Thursday said that the government would seek the approval of the Indian Council of Medical Research to set up testing centres in the state to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
The Tura Civil Hospital and Nazareth Hospital here have already moved the ICMR for permission to set up the centres.
The Shillong Civil Hospital is only capable of checking symptoms of the disease.
Talking to reporters here on Thursday, Hek said Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has assured to provide Personal Protective Equipment and N-95 masks to help the state combat COVID-19. These would be airlifted from Delhi to Guwahati en route to the state.
“He (Vardhan) is taking personal initiative to ensure that the equipment reach the state at the earliest,” he said. “The equipment got stranded due to the lockdown as all flights were grounded and even the trains stopped. But despite all this the equipment will arrive”, he said.
It may be mentioned that Hek had written to the Health Ministry requesting for the equipment.
He said that he was monitoring the situation on a daily basis and appropriate directions were being issued from time to time to the officials of the Health department on how to deal with the pandemic.
