Health dept reviews Hockey World Cup plans

JHARSUGUDA: The Health department reviewed its preparations for the upcoming FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup at a meeting in Jharsuguda  collector’s office on Tuesday. 

Chairing the meeting, Health Minister Naba Kisore Das said the department has made special arrangements for the mega sporting event. Special testing facilities, mobile health units and emergency ambulance services have been made available at Rourkela and Bhubaneswar, the two cities that will host the World Cup. “We are ready to deal with any health exigency,” he said.

Health secretary Shalini Pandit said medical teams and ambulances will be stationed outside the stadiums. Similarly, mobile medical units will be kept ready inside the stadiums. In the last 10 days, not a single Covid case has been detected in Sundargarh and Jharsuguda districts. “Extensive testing is being done in the entire state to detect any potential virus outbreak. The current variant of Covid is very mild and we are fully prepared to deal with it,” she said. 

A large number of visitors and hockey fans are likely to arrive at the airport in Jharsuguda during the World Cup. Keeping this in mind, a medical tent has been set up outside the airport to deal with any health emergency, Pandit added.

Among others, Jharsuguda collector Saroj Samal, his Sundargarh counterpart Gavali Parag Harshad, director of VSS Airport Pavan Zutshi and health officials were present.