Rajasthan govt asks private hospitals to set up oxygen plants

JAIPUR: Private hospitals with a bed capacity of 60 or more have been directed by the state government to set up their own oxygen plants and install centralised oxygen pipeline systems.
The direction has been issued following the severe shortage of oxygen for Covid-19 patients. The state is regularly reporting over 160 Covid deaths daily and there's a huge rush of patients with low oxygen saturation seeking admissions in hospitals.
They have been directed to establish oxygen generation plant for the purpose in two months. A special package for setting up oxygen plants has also been released by the industry department.
On Wednesday, the state reported 164 deaths, with 16,384 persons testing positive for the virus. The overall tally now stands at 8,05,658. With today's fatalities, the state’s toll rose to 6,158.
Directions have been issued to hospitals, especially children's hospitals, to prepare for the third wave which is likely to affect children.
Amid spiraling cases, the health department has also clarified that some of the samples from Rajasthan had tested positive for the UK strain. “We have received the report from a lab in Delhi that some samples have tested positive for the UK strain. The lab did genome sequencing of the samples and the report was received two days ago. We are also trying to develop the genome sequencing facility at the SMS Medical College to identify that variant to find out if it's double or triple mutant so that treatment can be provided accordingly to patients,” said health minister Raghu Sharma.
The state's active cases are, meanwhile, above the two-lakh mark and it is among the five states in the country which have more than two lakh cases. The other four states are Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh.
The districts which reported Covid deaths on Wednesday are Jaipur (58), Jodhpur (18), Udaipur (16), Sikar (8), Bikaner (8), Ajmer (6), Rajsamand (5), Kota (5), Jhunjhunu (5), Bharatpur (4),Barmer (4), Pali (4), Alwar (3), Jhalawar (3), Chittorgarh (2), Bhilwara (2), Karauli (2), Nagaur (2) and Hanumangarh, Sriganganagar, Dungarpur, Bundi, Dholpur, Banswara, Sawai Madhopur, Jaisalmer, Sirohi one casualty each.
The districts which reported new infections are Jaipur (3,214), Jodhpur (1,260), Alwar (1,214), Kota (950), Udaipur (907), Churu (715), Bharatpur (677), Jhunjhunu (550), Barmer (536), Bikaner (505), Ajmer (488), Sikar (475), Jaisalmer (380), Rajsamand (377), Pali (341), Hanumangarh (332), Dungarpur (330), Bhilwara (311), Dausa (302), Chittorgarh (302), Jhalawar (301), Sriganganagar (289), Baran (211), Sawai Madhopur (202), Nagaur (201), Dholpur (184), Sirohi (178), Karauli (177), Tonk (162), Banswara (123), Bundi (104), Pratapgarh (48) and Jalore (38).