Nagaland Health minister presents report on fight against Covid-19 and preparedness for third wave

Our Correspondent
Kohima, August 5 (EMN): The last one-and-a-half years have not been ordinary times and the second of Covid-19 hit Nagaland harder than the first wave, said Minister of Health and Family Welfare, S Pangnyu Phom on Thursday, the second day of the 8th Session of the 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA).

Stating that the two waves of Covid-19 pandemic had impacted Nagaland like the rest of the world, Phom apprised the House on steps taken to mitigate the crisis.

“The first wave required urgent measures in the form of imposition of lockdowns to curtail the spread of virus and to take steps to strengthen our healthcare system. We had taken steps by strengthening our testing facilities, creating posts and recruiting healthcare professionals in an expeditious manner,” he said.

District hospitals without functional ICUs were provided with requisite infrastructure and critical care equipment, he maintained, adding that ambulances were also provided to the districts.

“To modernise the supply chain management supported by a robust IT platform, the department set up a state warehouse at Kohima,” he said.

He said that the second wave of Covid-19 has been much more severe than the first wave, as in the rest of the country, with many more persons infected, more hospitalisations and more lives lost.

“This can be gauged from the fact that we had more than 15,600 cases at a positivity rate of 11.5% in the four-month period, comprising the second wave as compared to the 11,927 cases at a positivity rate of 9.7% for the nearly one-year period of the first wave,” the minister informed.

Enhancement of human resources

He asserted that the state government took a number of timely steps responding to the second wave and meeting the new challenges it threw at the healthcare delivery system.

For containment of the spread of Covid-19 virus during the second wave, a partial lockdown was imposed from May 5, followed by total lockdown from May 14 in the entire state, he said, adding that they had augmented human resources.

He apprised that 390 posts were created in 2020, specifically keeping in view the requirements on account of Covid-19. In addition to filling up these posts, around 150 resultant vacancy posts were also filled up in an expeditious manner.

Phom also informed that 150 medical officers (MOs), 14 specialists, 258 nurses, five dental surgeons, 23 Ayush MOs, six research scientists and six BSL lab technicians, 54 ANMs/FHWs, 11 OT technicians and 10 ECG technicians were appointed to meet the requirement of healthcare professionals for Covid-19. Incentives were also announced for private doctors, he added.

Hospital beds increased to 1153

To meet the need for immediate augmentation of beds, the minister informed that oxygen beds, ICU beds and HDU beds, especially at Dimapur and Kohima, and private hospitals were also mandated for management of Covid-19 patients.

“Available resources in the form of oxygen supplies and ventilators were shared with the private hospitals and their capacities also enhanced,” he said.

To meet the increased hospitalisation, he stated that they ramped up the bed strength, which was 805 with 608 beds without oxygen support, 68 beds with oxygen support, another 68 ICU beds without ventilators and 61 ICU beds with ventilators before the second wave, to 1153 beds with 296 beds without oxygen support, 669 beds with oxygen support, 99 ICU beds without ventilators and 89 ICU beds with ventilators.

‘We are also building a 200-bedded hospital with 24 paediatric beds for acute medical care at Christian Institute of Health Sciences and Research (CIHSR) in Dimapur which is likely to be operational by September. This hospital, should there be a third wave of Covid-19 pandemic, will be immensely useful,’ he said.

Augmentation of oxygen capacity

Oxygen being a critical element in the treatment of Covid-19 patients, he continued that they made efforts on a war footing to augment the oxygen capacity.

“We procured oxygen cylinders and have nearly 6000 cylinders of various capacities as compared to 1417 cylinders at the beginning of the pandemic last year. The total capacity of oxygen that can be stored in these cylinders is more than 17.5 metric ton,” he said.

In addition, PSA oxygen generation plants along with oxygen piping and generator backup have been installed at Kohima, Dimapur, Mokokchung, Tuensang and Phek to ensure availability of bedside oxygen, he informed, adding that these have a daily capacity of 3.7 metric ton.

“We have also procured or received, through various sources, oxygen concentrators and have more than 2000 concentrators deployed at various medical facilities in the state. We have strengthened our oxygen supply chain, putting in place a state depot in Dimapur and a zonal depot at Mokokchung. Resultantly, despite the sudden surge in cases, no patient had to suffer on account of lack of availability of oxygen or hospital beds,” he added.

Furthermore, out of 688 ventilators, 239 have been distributed to various health facilities including private hospitals, he continued.

Besides the BSL laboratories, he informed that they established 25 TrueNat and 362 Rapid Antigen Testing facilities for Covid-19 across the state.

From May 2020 to July 31, 2021, it was informed that a total of 2,63,703 tests were conducted.

On importance of vaccination

Meanwhile, Phom maintained that it was ‘recognised by everyone’ that vaccination was the most effective tool against preventing Covid-19 infection. “Along with the rest of the country, we have launched mass Covid vaccination drives,” he said.

The state has administered a total of 7,67,535 doses of Covid-19 vaccines as of July 30, 2021 covering about 49.3% of the target for 1st dose and 12% of target for second dose, he informed.

“No serious adverse effects due to Covid vaccination have been reported in our state,” he claimed.

“Our intensive mobilisation drives, jointly with the faith-based organisations, civil society organisations, village authorities and other government agencies have helped reduce the vaccine hesitancy. It was heartening to note that members of this august House have participated fully in this vaccination drive.

“Resultantly, a number of our villages have come forward and got full vaccine coverage for their available eligible residents. This movement of 100% vaccination of eligible beneficiaries was first achieved at Yali village in Tuensang. We are hopeful that all our villages will be fully vaccinated in the days to come,” he said on the floor of the House.

“Despite the presence of more virulent variant of the virus, which has caused hundreds of deaths during the second wave, out of 463 Covid deaths as on July 30, 2021, we have only two cases on record in the state who had died two weeks after the second dose vaccination. This highlights the importance of vaccination in preventing infection and development of serious illness,” he continued.

As on August 1, 2021, he informed that a total of 27,945 Covid positive cases were detected in the state, of which 25,244 have recovered, while there were 1344 active positive cases in the state.

The health minister stated that ‘the virus has not gone away and can rear its ugly head anytime again. We need to be cautious and not lower our guard’.

Observing that the state needs to be prepared for the third wave, he said they would continue to work to cover the entire population with vaccination “which is the most effective weapon against the virus”. “We have also proceeded to prepare for the third wave,” he added.

He informed that a paediatric task force has been set up under a senior director of the Health department “with experts drawn from the private and public sector to look into our preparedness”.

“We have identified infrastructural requirements and other areas where we need to strengthen. We are taking steps to further strengthen our ICU beds, testing facilities as well as create additional capacities at the sub-district level to cope with the possible third wave in a more effective manner,” he said.

“There are a number of challenges with regard to vaccine hesitancy, testing hesitancy and capacities of our healthcare delivery system which we would continue to take steps to address going forward,” he added.

Seeks continued support from public

Phom also put on record the efforts being put in by faith-based organisations and civil society organisations, village authorities and elected representatives in fighting this pandemic, while seeking their continued co-operation.

He also acknowledged the assistance received from the Central government, developmental partners, donor agencies, NGOs, civil society and churches in providing equipment and resources.

The healthcare workers and frontline workers, both in the private and government sector, have been at the forefront and have put in their best efforts, performing their duties for long working hours and under stressful conditions, he acknowledged.

“Nothing can substitute the hard work and risks that they are taking,” he said.

“We should all continue to work together to ensure in addressing the challenges of Covid-19 pandemic in our state,” he added.