J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha inaugurated a 500-bed dedicated Covid facility set up by the DRDO in Srinagar’s Khonmoh to help the Union Territory in its fight against Covid-19 pandemic.
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Sunday inaugurated a 500-bed Covid-19 facility set up by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at Khonmoh in Srinagar.
After constructing a 500-bed Covid hospital in Jammu, DRDO completed the 500-bed hospital in Srinagar in just 17 days.
The Covid facility in Srinagar houses all the requisite modern facilities. The hospital is centrally air-conditioned and has the capacity for 125 ICU beds.
Out of 125 ICU beds, 25 are reserved for children and 375 beds have 24-hour oxygen connectivity.
The Covid care facility will fully start its operations once the trial run of all the medicare facilities is completed.
The L-G expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, for providing the necessary assistance and interventions in augmenting healthcare and medical facilities across Jammu and Kashmir.
He added that recently, the Union Territory had received 16 Medical Oxygen Generation Plants from Europe in a short span of three weeks, substantially enhancing the medical oxygen availability in the region.
The L-G also lauded the DRDO for playing a key role in India’s fight against Covid-19.
“I acknowledge the hard work of DRDO officials, who have completed both the hospitals in a short span of time, adding 1000 additional beds to serve the people in Jammu and Kashmir,” said L-G Manoj Sinha.
Speaking on the UT government’s initiatives aimed towards transforming J&K’s health system in view of Covid-19 pandemic, the L-G remarked that the strategy has been to implement a host of interventions in response to the evolving situations and then quantifying the impact of those initiatives in providing relief to the patients and strengthening the overall healthcare delivery system in the Union Territory.
The L-G highlighted some notable interventions, including continuous augmentation of ICU and oxygen-supported beds, deployment of former medical staff and fast track deployment of newly qualified staff, decentralization of health system through Panchayat Covid Care Centres, and starting an accelerated vaccination drive.
The J&K Lieutenant Governor observed that it was due to collective efforts that J&K now has a greater capacity to treat all Covid-19 and other patients.
Taking timely decisions to increase hospital capacity in response to the pandemic lead to better management of patients, the L-G added.
He also thanked and congratulated all the PRI representatives, government officers, health department, police and security forces for continuously working during the pandemic.
“With the active participation of all of you, we have handled the situation of Corona in J&K in a better way,” L-G Manoj Sinha said.
L-G reviews Covid care facilities
Meanwhile, the Lieutenant Governor took a round of the various sections of the facility and enquired about the Covid care facilities to be extended to the patients, including diagnostic facilities, medical equipment, oxygen supply, doctors, paramedics and other healthcare facilities.
Adhering to the directions of the L-G for developing specialized critical care for infants and children, a 25-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) has been established in the facility.
Pertinently, on May 30, J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had visited the site of this DRDO’s Covid hospital and passed specific direction for the early completion of the facility.
