NC concerned over COVID spike, demands increase in bed strength, installation of oxygen plants

Jammu: National Conference Thursday expressed grave concern over alarming spike in COVID-19 cases in Jammu and lack of adequate infrastructural facilities to meet the challenge.
“Situation is quite serious due to lack of oxygen, ventilators and above all availability of beds to cope up with the grim scenario”, senior National Conference leaders said in a joint statement and sought corrective measures on war footing for patient care and treatment. They demanded setting up of a thousand-bedded COVID Hospital on the pattern adopted by the Punjab government besides allocating more beds in the Government Medical College and Associated Hospitals to accommodate the patients whose number is increasing manifold with each passing day. The present strength of 608 beds out of the total capacity of 2637 capacity in the Associated Hospitals is meagre and needs to be revisited in view of the crisis like situation posed by the pandemic. The allocation of 203 beds out of 1077 in the GMC, 110 of 250 in CD Hospital, 70 out of 120 in the Psychiatry Hospital, 60 out of750 in SMG Hospital and 165 out of the 200 available beds in Maternity Hospital Gandhi Nagar is inadequate keeping in view the rise in the number of patients. Therefore, there is a need for extraordinary measures to meet the extraordinary situation, the statement added.
The National Conference leaders also expressed dismay over acute shortage of oxygen, wondering why the need for it had not been anticipated immediately after the outbreak of infection, leaving the patients in lurch in the midst of the corona crisis. They called for installation of liquid oxygen plant oxygen generation plantt besides the other plants in various hospitals on the war footing besides similar facilities at the district level hospitals to cater to the needs of peripheral health institutions. They said the shortage and lack of oxygen has proved detrimental to patient care in recent days, causing anxieties among the infected people and their attendants.
The statement also viewed with concern the reports about dysfunctional ventilators in various health facilities and demanded plugging the loopholes for optimal usage. These measures are needed to be coordinated and synergised at the apex level so that there remains no room for ambiguities. They said the hopeless situation needed to be met by fixing everything on the ground rather than waiting for teams and studies. “This is the time to act rather than to indulge in rhetoric”, the NC leaders observed.
The statement lauded the efforts of the COVID warriors at the peril of their own and their families’ lives and said that the doctors, paramedics and others engaged in the fight against pandemic should be provided with all the safety kits like Personal Protection Gears etc. At the same time, measures should be taken for patient satisfaction, as there is a trust deficit with those suffering from the virus, feeling let down for want of medical attention. This impression can be diluted only when adequate infrastructural facilities are available for accommodating more and more patients. They sought roping in of all the private hospitals and nursing homes for treating COVID cases.
The National Conference leaders expressed anguish over delay in taking corrective measures despite the issue flagged in the highest democratic forum of the country by the party president Dr Farooq Abdullah. This is unacceptable and the administration must show the signs of sensitivity to meet the situation, which has worsened in recent days. They called for maintaining a buffer of medicines, especially life saving drugs in all the hospitals and peripheral health institutions for treating the ailing people.