Shillong, Sep 8: The facilities which have been set up at the COVID-19 Step Down Hospital in Umsawli are presently not being utilised since the number of cases have come down in the state.
When contacted, a senior official of the Health department on Wednesday said that there are no patients at the moment at the COVID-19 Step Down Hospital since there are less number of cases now.
According to him, the health facility which has been opened at Umsawli with a capacity of 50 beds was to act as a step-down hospital, meaning a place for treating patients needing less intensive care.
“At the moment, we are able to cater to the Covid-19 patients in the various existing hospitals in the city both government and privately run hospitals,” the senior Health official said.
He also admitted that they have now deputed the staff which were attached to the COVID-19 Step Down Hospital to Shillong Civil Hospital and Ganesh Das Hospital.
“We will re-deploy them to the step-down hospital if there is a surge of COVID-19 cases in the state,” the senior official said.
Meanwhile, he also clarified that it would be wrong to say that there are very few takers for the facilities at Umsawli adding that the facilities will be required and since the third Covid wave is already affecting states like Maharashtra and Kerala, the Health department might need this facility.
“We need to understand that the facilities were created as preparations for the third wave,” the official said, adding that seven paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) have been set up in the paediatric ward.
He said that the Health department came up with the PICUs and the paediatric ward in anticipation of the third COVID wave.
The official informed that there are also 20 centralised paediatric oxygen support beds with eight ICU beds for adults at the step-down hospital and said the Government will either convert the COVID-19 Step Down Hospital into an Infectious Disease Hospital or it will be part of the infrastructure for the Shillong Medical College.
“The state government will decide how to utilise the Covid-19 Step Down Hospital once the pandemic is over,” the official said.
According to the official, the step-down hospital will be used as an additional facility in case the Shillong Civil Hospital runs short of beds for Covid patients.
“We have to be prepared since we don’t know how the situation is going to unfold in the coming months,” he said.
Replying to a query, the official said that the government spent around Rs 10 crore to set up the paediatric facilities at the Umsawli centre.
It may be mentioned that Union Home Minister, Amit Shah on July 24 this year had inaugurated a cryogenic oxygen plant, paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) and a paediatric ward at the COVID-19 Step Down Hospital at Umsawli, New Shillong Township.
