Specter of people falling like ninepins has arisen with medical experts predicting the onset of the third wave of Covid-19 in the next one month or so. Delhi Government has, however, tried to reassure its people by taking steps that might ensure that mistakes like paucity of hospital beds and oxygen are not repeated this time.
Delhi government on Friday has appointed nodal officers for the state-run hospitals to ensure coordination among agencies for better preparedness.
IAS OFFICERS APPOINTED AS NODAL OFFICERS
The health and family department released names of 15 IAS officers appointed for Covid hospitals. “The nodal officers shall immediately start monitoring the work of third-wave preparedness including beds escalation, sourcing of requisite oxygen supply, procurement and storage of sufficient drugs and engineering works if any and will coordinate with the other agencies like PWD, etc. as well as area District Magistrate,” said the order issued.
As per the order, the officers will be overall in charge of the Covid hospital assigned to them and have control over the functioning of the hospital. The Medical Superintendent, Managing Director, and the Director of the hospital will have to obtain the concurrence of all decisions pertaining to Covid management from the respective nodal officer.
‘WE ARE READY TO FIGHT THE THIRD WAVE’
The nodal officer in charge of Deep Chand Bandhu (DCB) Hospital, New Delhi, Mr. Awanish Kumar speaking to Indian Masterminds about the government’s preparedness said, “For fighting pandemic we are acting on Multiple fronts ranging from augmentation of infrastructure, hiring/sourcing of man power, providing training to the existing staff, sourcing of needed medicines, etc. Wherever possible, we are also increasing the number of beds. Compared to last year, numerous extra beds have been included in hospitals. Wehave 250 beds, as of now.”
Talking about the scarcity of oxygen supply that the country faced during the second wave, the officer revealed that every hospital now has its own PSA plant. “We have augmented our in-house oxygen capacity and procured a lot of good quality oxygen cylinders with 10L capacity. We have a fully functional 6 KL LMO tank with an assured supply of LMO. 03 PSA (Pressure Swing Absorption) Plants have been installed in DCB.”
VACCINATION DRIVES AT FULL SWING
Meanwhile, the vaccination drive is in full swing. Lakhs of people are getting vaccinated on a weekly basis and the nodal officers are continuously monitoring it.
“We are continuously making people aware of Covid appropriate behavior. We have not let our guard down and are enforcing all the guidelines properly. We are covering all the fronts and are fully prepared to face the third wave. All the District Magistrates of the 11 district in Delhi are heading the drives successfully in their respective districts,” Mr. Kumar told Indian Masterminds.
‘CHILDREN MAY BE AT RISK THIS TIME’
Since the little ones are the only section of the society that is yet to receive their vaccination against Covid19, it is highly expected that the third wave will, unfortunately, affect children below the age of 18.
“To fight this, every hospital has included several pediatric wards and beds. In my DCB hospital, we are targeting at least 60 pediatric beds for kids who might get affected by the virus, out of which 25 will be pediatric ICU beds. We are hopeful that we will face the third wave with full preparation and fight it successfully.”
Delhi government is continuously doing the genome sequencing of Covid strains whenever suspected cases are being found, mainly in the segment of international arrivals from highly sensitive countries (at the Delhi airport).
Hope the entire country will stand together now and fight off the third wave before it becomes strong enough to cause havoc and destruction as the second wave did.
Besides Mr. Kumar, Mr. Arava Gopi Krishna has been appointed nodal officer for Lok Jayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital, Mr. Vikram Malik for Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital, Ms. Sonal Swaroop for Deen Dayal Upadhyaya (DDU) Hospital, Mr. Himanshu Gupta for Ambedkar Hospital and Mr. R Meneka for Sanjay Gandhi Hospital besides other officers.
