Rs 380-cr health infra boost to tackle Covid third wave

Nitin Jain
Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, July 15

Even as the experts have predicted a safe situation in Punjab till later part of July, the state government has come up with a comprehensive plan to thwart the possible threat posed by the much-anticipated third Covid wave, the senior officials have said.

The provision of 25 per cent more hospital beds, new hospitals, additional manpower and augmentation of medical oxygen supplies are part of the major health infrastructure boost planned by the government at an estimated cost of Rs 380 crore, Principal Health Secretary Hussan Lal told The Tribune on Thursday.

He said the proposal to increase beds at both government and private hospitals will take the number of Level-II beds from present 11,117 to 13,703, Level-III beds from 2,935 to 3,419, ICU beds from 1,359 to 1,440, and Covid beds from 13,064 to 15,804, besides adding 384 new paediatric beds with Level-II and ICU facilities.

Besides, makeshift hospitals are coming up in Bathinda, Fatehgarh Sahib, Mohali, and Tarn Taran, which will add a cumulative Level-II capacity of 250 beds.

To augment the medical oxygen supplies, hospital-wise database of life-saving gas production, storage and transportation has been created. All hospitals with more than 50 beds have been directed to install pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants, subject to space availability. Concentrators are also being distributed to PHCs, CHCs, and Covid centres to reduce dependence on liquid medical oxygen (LMO); An LMO plant of 100 MT capacity is being set up in Fatehgarh Sahib; oxygen reserves will be maintained at select district headquarters in Ludhiana, Amritsar, Bathinda, Jalandhar, Mohali and Patiala to service neighbouring districts; and LMO pipeline system and gas manifolds have been laid in all district and sub-division hospitals covering about 60 per cent beds, which account for 4,200 beds.

Also, 41 PSA plants are being installed through the Centre and 37 through aid and donations in the medical colleges and healthcare facilities. While six PSA plants are already installed and functional, work to install 11 is in progress and 61 more are in the pipeline.

While three cryogenic LMO tanks in medical colleges at Amritsar, Patiala and Faridkot are being installed at a cost of Rs 2.27 crore, six more tanks will be installed at six hospitals at a cost of Rs 4.28 crore.

Besides, allied works for PSA plants, such as sheds, interconnecting pipelines, generator sets, electricity load enhancement and new substations, are being executed at Rs 11.17 crore.

While medical gas pipeline system (MGPS) is being augmented at all Covid care facilities at Rs 3.25 crore, equipment works worth Rs 11.7 crore have also been proposed.

The government has already provided Rs 25 crore for PSA oxygen plants, Rs 30 crore for equipment, and Rs 150 crore for augmentation of drugs and consumables.

As per the additional manpower recommended by the officers’ committee, 283 new special medical officers, 674 general medical officers, and 2,000 staff nurses will be added to government health facilities in the state.

Officialspeak

Following the approval by CM Capt Amarinder Singh, a corpus of Rs380 crore has been earmarked to give a major boost to the health infrastructure for countering the possible threat posed by much-anticipated third Covid wave. — Vini Mahajan, Chief Secretary