Following directions by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, authorities in south Kashmir’s Pulwama are setting up 950 new COVID-19 Care beds at 190 of the Panchayats across the district in the next week for effective isolation of COVID-19 patients.
LG Sinha had on Wednesday directed the respective DCs and the Health and Medical Education Department to set up a five-bedded COVID-19 Care Centre at every J&K Panchayat to cater to such patients not able to isolate at home.
The government has also allocated Rs 1 lakh for each centre from the respective District Capex Budget for creating the facility at a school, community hall or a Panchayat ghar in consultation with the nearest Health Centre and Panchayat representatives.
Deputy Commissioner Pulwama, Baseer-ul-Haq Choudhary told Greater Kashmir that the 950 centres at the 190 Panchayats will be ready within a week’s time.
Choudhary said the centres will be “fully equipped with all necessary facilities oximeters, oxygen concentrators and other facilities for every bed”.
“We are trying to make this important facility available in every area so that the patients might not suffer. The beds will be ready withing a weeks time” he said.
Presently, there are a total of 580 COVID-19 Care beds available in the south Kashmir district of which 168 are in use with only 228 beds oxygen-supported, official figures accessed by Greater Kashmir have revealed.
At District Hospital Pulwama, there are 155 oxygen supported beds available including 10 equipped with critical care ventilators and 15 beds allocated to maternity section.
An official said that the number of beds “can be increased when needed”.
Apart from DH Pulwama, there are two ventilators at SDH Pampore and 4 at PHC Kakapora as per officials.
As per official figures, there are 2,330 active patients in the district as on date of which 133 patients are on oxygen support.
A total of 149 people have died of COVID-19 in the district of which 57 deaths occured in the month of April alone.