GUWAHATI: The Assam health department on Friday unveiled the state’s first super-speciality hospital in the government sector at the
Gauhati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) premises.
The hospital has been built where the
Covid treatment wards were set up by the government when the number of positive cases were high. However, with state health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma saying that the state is “almost out of Covid”, the unit was shut down and transformed into the super speciality hospital.
“This superspeciality hospital was functioning as Covid unit. By closing it down, we want to send the message that things are slowly becoming normal again. We have made the unit operational for the task for which this infrastructure was developed initially. On January 1, we are giving a symbolic message that by staying away from Covid, we can begin our normal life,” Himanta added.
The minister also tweeted, “The newly opened state-of-art 257-bed Super Speciality Hospital at GMCH, worth Rs 150 cr adds one more feather by substantially strengthening healthcare facilities in Assam, pursuing the vision of Hon PM Sri @narendramodi. 2021 sees a bright start.”
The infrastructure where the super speciality hospital was inaugurated was the busiest Covid hospital in the state about three months ago. Another building of the hospital with sophisticated equipment, comprising about 250 beds, will get ready in around four months time. “Today, with full sense of responsibility, out of statistics and empirical evidence, I can say with confidence that we are almost out of Covid. However, when a disease comes, it does exist to some extent in the future as well,” Himanta added.
The sophisticated eye bank inaugurated at GMCH, he said, will immensely benefit cornea transplant. “The Eye Bank inaugurated today at GMCH is a boon not only for #Assam but for #NorthEast as a whole. The GoA in collaboration with Tata Trust, Hans Foundation & LVPEI has taken a novel step towards eye care in the region,” the health minister said in a tweet.
Himanta added that the Covid crisis that broke out in 2020 has taught us many lessons, the most important one being that one has to be ready in terms of health infrastructure to meet any eventuality that is beyond normal. “The supply of medical oxygen has been enhanced like never before in Assam. We are operating a special programme to add and introduce ICUs in hospitals in the districts and laboratory testing facilities have got a major boost due to the pandemic. Because of emergency response, what we have achieved this year would have in general taken 20 years,” he added.