Quarantine facilities with 15,843 beds set up in Nagaland — Phom

Our Correspondent
Kohima, Aug. 16 (EMN): Health minister S Pangnyu Phom stated that a total of 261 quarantine centres comprising of 206 institutional and 55 paid quarantine centres with a total bed capacity of 15,843 were set up in Nagaland.

He was replying to the starred question raised by opposition MLA Y Vikheho Swu during the sixth session of the 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly on August 13.

When asked as to how financial help was provided to each quarantine centre, the minister replied that a total of INR 88.65 lakh and INR 2101.403 lakh from the Health and Family Welfare department and NSDMA Home department respectively were sanctioned to various district task forces against quarantine centres.

On the query as to how much money has been extended to the chief medical officers, district hospitals, CHCs and PHCs to manage Covid-19 pandemic till date, Phom responded that a total of INR 688.17 lakhs has been released to various district hospitals, chief medical officers including CHCs and PHCs.

ICMR approves BSL-3 and BSL-2 labs

Health minister S Pangnyu Phom stated that the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has given the approval to operate the BSL-3 and BSL-2 labs at Naga Hospital Authority Kohima (NHAK) and Christian Institute of Health Sciences and Research (CISHR), Dimapur, following the fulfilment of all requisite safety norms including lab affluent and bio kits, which was validated by a third party.

He also stated that the government is dealing with Thermo Fisher Scientific India Pvt. Limited in Mumbai, and the Gritu Enterprise Guwahati in Assam, the two firms for procurement and installation of the Bio-Safety Level-3 (BSL-3) laboratory at NHAK and BSL-2 lab each at CIHSR in Dimapur and District Hospital (DH),Tuensang.

According to the minister, Hiryana Thakuira and Avinash Kumar are the two representatives for setting up of the BSL-3 and BSL-2 labs in Nagaland. Phom stated that Thakuira and Kumar, representing the dealer for the construction and installation of the equipment in the laboratories, were not scientists but field experts.

“Installation and commissioning of equipment was done by service engineer Jhintu Baruah, who has experience of more than ten years,” he said.

He informed that Nagaland government constituted a committee to oversee the construction of the BSL-3 and BSL-2 laboratories at NHAK in the state capital, CISHR in Dimapur and DH, Tuensang.

On the query if the government has formed a bio-safety committee, Phom responded that there was an ‘infection control committee’ in all hospitals which is responsible for infection prevention and control measures as per the guidelines of the government of India.

As such the same committee has been entrusted to oversee the bio-safety measures, he stated.