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Our Correspondent
Kohima, Feb. 12 (EMN): Nagaland Governor RN Ravi on Friday lauded the state government for “successfully” combating the Covid-19 pandemic, saying that the overall health infrastructure of the state saw a “significant” development post-crisis.
The governor said this during the seventh session of the 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) on February 12 in Kohima.
‘Initially, Nagaland did not have a single testing lab of its own for Covid-19, yet the government lost no time in planning and establishing three BSL labs and acquiring 32 TrueNat machines,’ he said.
The state government than took steps to increase the number of health professionals and workers in public health facilities including 134 posts of doctors, 221 posts of nurses, 23 post of technicians and 12 posts for the BSL labs. District hospitals were provided with requisite infrastructure and equipment, he said.
The governor informed that the department of Health and Family Welfare had also set up state warehouse in Kohima and is setting up medical oxygen generation plants in 10 district hospitals and Community Health Centre, Jalukie with a total generation capacity of 1680 litre per minute.
The nationwide lockdown imposed in March 2020, by its sheer impact on the economic activities, led to certain hardships to our people in other states of the country, he said, adding that the government immediately stepped in and about INR 24.75 crore relief in cash was provided, which benefitted 37,932 persons.
He went on to informed that 8,500 stranded persons (excluding those who came on their own) were brought to the state from different parts of the country by arranging trains and buses The state government put in place elaborate protocols and arrangements for quarantining the returnees to contain the spread of Covid-19, and more than 25,000 returnees availed the government facilities, he added.
“I am very please to say that my government was successful in taking all the aforesaid measures successfully that were so vital for combating Covid-19,” said the governor.
The mortality rate in Nagaland due to Covid-19, he said, remains relatively less than other states. Various measures taken by the government coupled with the steps taken for making people adhere to Covid-19 appropriate behaviour ensured that the virus spread in the state was contained, he maintained.
The governor appreciated medical doctors, nurses, and all frontline workers, saying that they deserved deepest appreciation for their determined and selfless services in battling the Covid-19 under very demanding circumstances. He also thanked mass-based organisations, including churches for their support towards the state government in the fight against the pandemic.
The state has started vaccination against Covid-19 since the nation-wide rollout of the vaccine on January 16 and it is expected to finish the first phase (healthcare workers) by February 20, 2021, Ravi stated, adding that vaccination for more than 43,000 frontline workers has started.
He also highlighted the measures taken up by the state government to save resources to combat the Covid-19 pandemic as well as to mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic on the state’s finances.
Concerning the recent outbreak of forest fires at Dzükou Valley, the governor said that the government is making long term plans to prevent such incidents in future and also further strengthen its response mechanism.
He stated that the fire was extinguished in time without any damage to the main valley because of the co-ordinated response from several state and central agencies, and civil society organisations.
He lauded the response from several agencies led by Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority along with Southern Angami Public Organisation and Southern Angami Youth Organisation in dousing the fire.
It may be mentioned that the House observed a one-minute silence on the first day of the Assembly session, to pay homage to former state chief secretary Temjen Toy who passed away recently.