Jharkhand to manufacture oxygen flow meters to tackle Covid crisis: CM

RANCHI: The Jharkhand government will soon start manufacturing oxygen flow-meters (regulators used in controlling the flow of gas from oxygen cylinders) with the help of manpower and expertise drawn from the government industrial training institutes (ITIs) here, chief minister Hemant Soren said on Monday while interacting with MPs and MLAs of Palamu and Santhal Pargana commissionaries. He also announced that two cardiac ambulances will be deployed in every district and assured that the issue of pendency of Covid-19 testing reports in the state will be resolved by June.
Soren spoke to every lawmaker in turns virtually and sought their feedback on the ways to manage the Covid crisis in the state. A similar meeting will be held with elected representatives of North Chotanagpur and Kolhan commissionaries on Tuesday.
“While we have expanded the number of oxygen beds from 250 to over 10,000 now, there are issues in the supply of cylinders and allied logistics like flow-meters. The non-availability of flow-meters is a crisis afflicting the whole nation and in many places the devices are being sold at exorbitant rates. Hence we have roped in our ITIs to prepare the design and production will also begin shortly,” he said and added that the government was also in touch with manufacturers to procure flow-meters.
In response to BJP Palamu MP V D Ram’s demand for deploying ambulances in the rural areas to attend critical cases, Soren agreed to work out modalities to deploy at least two advanced ambulances in every district.
Ram also said that the government’s daily figures of death and new infections could just be the tip of the iceberg and the situation in villages appeared severe. “While I am not questioning government data, I want to stress that many cases of Covid deaths and infections are perhaps going undetected,” he said, urging the government to increase the rate of testing. Soren said that he, too, was worried about the situation. “We don’t intend to hide any data, but I am also aware that we aren’t able to get the real picture of the Covid situation from the villages,” he said.
JMM’s Maheshpur MLA Stephen Marandi along with several others stressed on the need to intensify awareness campaigns to dispel misinformation about Covid-19. “There are instances where health workers are being gheraoed by villagers to protest against vaccination. We have to move fast to convince the rural population about vaccination in order to break the transmission chain,” he said, adding that there was also a need for greater vigil in the bordering areas to ensure proper surveillance of all incoming persons.
The Congress MLA from Jamtara, Irfan Ansari, said the government must take all actions keeping in mind the threat of the impending third wave. “To augment the health infrastructure, I appeal to the government to start Covid centres at two unused hospital buildings here on a priority basis. This apart, many are finding it difficult to get treatment for non-Covid ailments owing to lack of functional OPDs. In rural areas, people can’t access online OPDs. Hence the government must immediately address this concern to prevent chaos,” he said.
Later in the day, the CM also rolled out the Birsa Ausadhi Yojana for free distribution of homeopathic medicine kits to those in home isolation for boosting immunity.