Asserting that the administration is working round-the-clock to provide best healthcare facilities for everyone and in every corner of J&K to fight COVID-19 pandemic, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha emphasized on the importance of developing specialized critical care for infants and children. The Lt Governor directed the officials to prepare a 25-bedded Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) 500-bedded COVID Hospital at Khonmoh with a dedicated team of doctors, nurses, dieticians and coordinators. An official on Monday said that Mr Sinha made these remarks during his visit to the construction site of DRDO’s 500-bedded COVID Hospital at Khonmoh in city outskirts on Sunday. While reviewing the progress being made so far, the Lt Governor directed the DRDO and district officials to expedite the pace of work and complete the Hospital by June 5,2021 for trial-run of all the facilities. Mt Sinha directed officials to take comprehensive measures to ensure that staffing, medical supplies, durable equipment, diagnostic tools, and other logistics are ready within the timeline. “My focus is to ensure high quality of care with sincere effort, rapid and efficient interventions, while integrating emergency response of healthcare services at the Hospital to fight Covid-19 pandemic,” the Lt Governor observed. The LG Governor said that nothing is more important than people’s lives and the administration is working round-the-clock for the best healthcare facilities for everyone and in every corner of J&K. Mr Sinha took a round of the facility and enquired about the COVID care facilities including availability of ICU beds, triage facility, medical equipment, doctors, paramedics and other facilities to be extended to the patients. It was informed that the Hospital has the capacity for 125 ICU beds and 375 beds with oxygen connectivity. The Lt Governor asked the officials to equip the facility with CT Scan machines and other medical imaging techniques to be made available at the Hospital. Mr Sinha reiterated that the operationalization of DRDO’s Hospitals in twin cities of Jammu and Srinagar would strengthen Government’s efforts against COVID pandemic, besides substantially increasing the COVID dedicated bed capacity and treatment in J&K. Health Officials, Divisional, and District administration were directed to lend all possible support to DRDO so that the hospital would be completed within stipulated time. The Lt Governor on May 29 had inaugurated the DRDO’s 500-bedded COVID hospital in Jammu to ramp up the healthcare infrastructure to effectively deal with the Corona virus pandemic.
