The Himachal Pradesh government has recruited about 3,000 employees on an outsource basis in order to ensure adequate staff in health institutions.
During a review meeting regarding the COVID situation in Kangra district on Wednesday, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur directed state officials to make more such appointments.
The government has issued Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for COVID patients’ last rites, the CM said, adding their next kin would receive financial assistance to be able to carry the dead body to their native places.
The government has increased the bed capacity from existing 1,500 to about 5,000 and the quota of oxygen from 15 MT to 30 MT, he said.
It has also urged the central government to further enhance it for the state by 10 MT, he added.
He said 20 additional ventilators were provided to Dr. Rajendra Prasad Medical College in Tanda district and 25 additional ventilators to IGMC, Shimla.
Besides this, the Chief Minister launched a Home Isolation Kit, ‘Sanjeevni’, developed by the Kangra administration.
He said the kit designed for patients in home isolation would help in their speedy recovery.
In the meeting, the CM was apprised that a Makeshift Hospital of 2,500 beds in Paraur near Dharamsala would be completed within two to three days.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kangra, Rakesh Prajapati told the Chief Minister that people in the district would now get their COVID test report within 48 hours.
In March, a total of 29,682 samples were taken, which had a positivity rate of 18 per 1,000, Prajapati said.
In April, the positivity rate jumped to 31 per 1,000 among the total 52,347 samples, he added.
The officer further said a total of 4,01,649 samples were tested in the district in last one year.
