Jitendra Singh reviews work done, preparedness to combat COVID-19 spread in JK

Jammu: Union Minister of State for Prime Minister’s Office; Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space, Dr Jitendra Singh Friday held a video conference with the officers of the health department of Jammu and Kashmir to review the work done and preparedness in place to combat the spread of COVID-19 disease.
The Minister who also holds Independent Charge for the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region lauded the efforts of the medical fraternity of Jammu and Kashmir in combating the spread of the Coronavirus infection.
The video conference was attended by Director Health Services Jammu, Dr Renu Sharma Sharma, Director Health Services Kashmir, Dr Samir Mattoo, Director SKIMS A G Ahanger, Mission Director National Health Mission, Bhupinder Kumar, Principal Government Medical College Jammu, Dr Sunanda Raina, Principal Government Medical College Kashmir, Dr Samia Rashid, Principals of new Medical Colleges, Director Coordination, New Medical Colleges, Dr Yashpal Sharma; Director ISM J&K, Mohan Singh, Managing Director JK Medical Supplies Corporation Limited, Shiv Kumar Gupta and Drug controller J&K Lokita Khajuria.
The Minister said due to the coordinated efforts taken under the leadership of Financial Commissioner Atal Dulloo, J&K has been able to limit the spread of this viral disease to a large extent.
“The way the officers of the health department have coordinated their efforts is laudable. All the health institutions in J&K have done a commendable job in limiting the spread of Coronavirus infection. I appreciate whole medical fraternity for the work they have done to treat and control this infectious disease,” said Dr Jitendra Singh while addressing the conference.
The Minister in his interaction with Director SKIMS and Principals of medical colleges also appreciated the efforts of frontline resident doctors and medical officers in efficiently managing the treatment of COVID-19 positive cases.
He also said the central government has brought an ordinance in the Epidemic act for the security and benefit of the medical fraternity.
The Financial Commissioner apprised the Minister about the status of COVID-19 cases and said more than 850 samples are being tested in the UT on a daily basis. He stated that J&K stands second in the country in number of tests done per million of population.
Atal Dullo said laboratory capacity for testing all suspect samples is being expanded and surge capacity for isolating all suspects or confirmed cases for medical care is being established.
He informed that UT has already put orders for rt-PCR machines for new Medical colleges and permission has been granted to SKIMs for using High-end rt-PCR machines with automated RNA extractor, which will further enhance the testing capacities at our laboratories.
The FC also said J&K has designated more than 10,000 isolation beds and 30,000 quarantine beds for COVID-19 care management. He also apprised the Minister of active involvement of BSF, CRPF, Army and Railways in creating the makeshift infrastructure for COVID-19 care.
He informed the MoS that as of now, J&K has got sufficient stock of Personal Protective Equipments (PPE) and other logistics. Furthermore, he said in a week time free flow of PPE supplies would resume, thus further strengthening the position with regard to stocks.