The Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Dr Harsh Vardhan yesterday visited Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre (JPNATC) of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi to take stock of their preparedness to overcome COVID-19. He also witnessed first-hand treatment and assistance being offered to COVID-19 patients in the Dedicated COVID Hospital.
Dr Harsh Vardhan stated that “AIIMS JPNATC is functioning as a dedicated COVID-19 hospital consisting of 250-bed isolation wards which are ensuring prompt care for COVID-19 confirmed patients who are in isolation and require advanced medical support.” “Also the Burn & Plastic Surgery Block of AIIMS JPNATC is being turned into a Screening and Triage area for housing COVID Suspect patients”, he informed. During the visit, he visited the Emergency ward, Doffing area, Private ward, ICU, HDU, SARI ward and ILI ward in this state-of-the-art building. He also inspected the sanitation being maintained in the washrooms of the hospital.
While in the hospital, the Minister interacted with few COVID-19 affected patients over the mobile phone through video calling, with the latter, being assisted by Robots at their end, and enquired about their well being. He also sought their feedback about the facilities available in AIIMS, so that necessary improvements can be made.
After a detailed review and inspection of the various wards and facilities of the Hospital, Dr Harsh Vardhan expressed satisfaction with the working of the Dedicated COVID Hospital. He also appreciated AIIMS JPNATC for ensuring 24 hrs monitoring of the wellbeing of COVID-19 confirmed and suspected patients. He said, “I am happy to see that AIIMS is using the latest digital technologies to monitor the health parameters of COVID patients, 24 hrs”. He added, “In last few days, I have been visiting various Dedicated COVID Hospitals and facilities such as in AIIMS Jhajjar, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital (LNJPNH), Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RML), Safdarjung Hospital (SJH), Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital and now AIIMS-JPNATC, Delhi to review the preparedness of COVID-19.”
Speaking about the situation of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, Minister apprised that as of now the Mortality/Death rate of COVID patients in India is 3.1 per cent, compared to 7 per cent at the global level. Moreover, 5,913 people have been cured till date resulting in recovery rate of around 22 per cent, which is also comparatively better than most of the countries. “The doubling rate of the country has been showing regular improvement and stands at 10.5 days when seen over a period of 3 days, 9.3 days over a period of 7 days and 8.1 days over a period of 14 days. These indicators may be taken as positive effects of the Lockdown in the country along with the cluster management and containment strategies.”, he said.
Continuing his update about the COVID situation in the country, he said, “As on date, 283 districts have not reported any COVID cases till date, 64 districts have not reported a fresh case since the last 7 days, 48 districts have not reported a fresh case since the last 14 days, 33 districts have not reported a fresh case since the last 21 days and 18 districts have not reported a fresh case since the last 28 days.”
On the status of availability of medical equipment and facilities in the country, Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “We have already made available sufficient quantities of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) at the State level and now we have around 106 manufacturing units which are capable of making them in India itself which will be enough to meet the increasing requirement of our country in future. Apart from this, there are now 10 manufacturers of N-95 masks in the country.” Speaking about the availability of ventilators, he said, “Through the efforts of the Government and our various research labs, the production of ventilators by domestic manufacturers has also started and orders have been placed for more than 59,000 units through 9 manufacturers.”
Elaborating on the adequacy of the ventilators, oxygen supplies and ICUs that have been available by the Centre and the States, he said, “When we compare the number of active patients who are currently hospitalised, we find that only 2.17 per cent patients have been admitted in ICU, 1.29 per cent patients have required oxygen support and mere 0.36 per cent are on the ventilator.” “We are winning the battles and eventually we will win this war against COVID-19 as we know our enemy, its numbers and its proper whereabouts and we are prepared to deal with any situation,” he said.
While praising the Corona Warriors, he said, “It is heartening to see the very high happiness quotient and high morale of our health warriors in these testing times.” Stating that he is satisfied with the arrangements made by these hospitals to deal effectively with the pandemic, he commended all the frontline caregivers such as nurses, doctors, technicians and other healthcare personnel for the resilience, hard work, dedication and commitment shown by them in dealing with COVID-19.