Manipur government to add 50 more ICU beds at JNIMS

Our Correspondent
Imphal, May 20 (EMN): Manipur government has decided to add 50 more intensive care unit (ICU) beds equipped with ventilators in the existing ICU of Covid ward at Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) in Imphal.

Sharing this information, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, on Thursday tweeted, “With the rise in Covid cases, we have decided to add another 50 ICU beds equipped with ventilators in the existing ICU of Covid ward. The officials of the Health department and administrative authorities of JNIMS are already on the job to get these ICU beds installed at the earliest.”

In another tweet, Biren Singh wrote, “Happy to share that the 10KL LMO Cryogenic Tank, capable of storing about 1300 Jumbo Cylinders will be installed & operationalised at JNIMS in the next 3 days. This will significantly improve our oxygen production capacity & reduce dependence on other States for oxygen gradually”.

The Covid-19 situation in Manipur is alarming as the state recorded total fatalities of 11 Covid-19 patients on Thursday, taking the state’s Covid-19 death toll to 646.

The release stated that Imphal West recorded seven deaths, out of which five were females, three from Imphal East and one from Churachandpur.

On the other hand, the state recorded 644 new Covid-19 positive cases, taking the state’s total infection tally to 41,909 besides increasing the total number of active cases to 6,904, according to a press release. The cases were detected at many testing centres spread across 11 districts in the state and maximum numbers of cases were reported from Imphal West (304) and Imphal East (191).

Though 34,399 persons, including 546 in the last 24 hours, have recovered so far, the recovery rate reduced to 81.98 percent.

As of Thursday, 6,76,221 persons were screened at the entry points of the state while 6,72,488 persons were tested for Covid-19 at various testing centres.

Meanwhile, Manipur police detained 107 persons across the state for violating health protocols and released them after giving warning. An amount of INR 32,900 was collected as fine.

On the other hand, the state has administered 3,31,631 anti-Covid jabs to the residents. Till date, 79,532 healthcare workers and frontline workers received a second dose of vaccines.

The total number of healthcare workers vaccinated with the first dose of Covishield vaccine is 37,250 while 24,432 of them got the second dose of vaccines, the state health department officials said.

Similarly, 82,903 frontline workers received the first dose while 49,122 got the second dose of Covishield in the state.

With the state chief minister declaring journalists as frontline workers on May 6, more than 350 journalists including the government media fraternity were vaccinated till date.

RIMS closes OPD

Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), a premier medical institute in northeast India located in Imphal has closed down its normal OPD (outpatient department) services from Thursday until further orders, officials said.

The step has been taken in view of the increasing number of Covid-19 cases, to give more spaces for treatment of Covid-19 patients and considering the curfew imposed by the state government.

The medical superintendent of RIMS Imphal has issued an order in this regard following a decision taken by all the clinical heads of department of the medical institute in its meeting on Wednesday. However, emergency services including emergency surgery, emergency caesarean of obstetrics and gynaecology cases and radiation oncology cases shall remain functioning, the order stated.