Race to contain virus in north Bengal- safe homes would be reopened and the number of beds would be increased at NBMCH

Safe homes to be reopened and the number of beds to be increased at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital

A Railway Protection Force officer asks some women to leave a platform at Santipur station in Nadia district on Monday for not wearing masks: Telegraph picture

TT Bureau   |   Siliguri, Darjeeling   |  20.04.21: The sudden surge in Covid-19 cases in north Bengal, especially in districts like Malda and Darjeeling, has made the state health department and some political parties in the hills draw up new plans to combat the situation.

On Monday, state tourism minister Gautam Deb held an emergency meeting with officials of the Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri district administrations and the health department.

At the meeting, it was decided that safe homes would be reopened and the number of beds would be increased at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Siliguri to accommodate more patients.

A separate post of a nodal official will be created in the health department for the NBMCH and also a special cell would be constituted in Siliguri for regular monitoring of Covid patients.

“The safe home (for treatment of Covid patients with mild symptoms) at Siliguri Municipal Corporation’s indoor stadium will reopen. Similarly, two other safe homes, which were earlier operational at Limbutari in Phansidewa block and at Batasi in Naxalbari block (both in Siliguri subdivision), will be made functional again,” said Deb.

In the Darjeeling hills, where new cases have been reported, the GTA has also come up with some plans.

According to sources, three people tested positive for the disease in Darjeeling municipality and two at Sukhiapokhri in the hills on Sunday. As of now, 21 people are under treatment at Triveni Covid hospital near Teesta.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (Binay Tamang faction) has decided to set up helpdesks in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik.

“We will soon start the help desks. Party workers have been requested to activate surveillance teams which were formed earlier in all 45 constituencies of the GTA to help Covid-19 positive families coordinate on different fronts,” said Anit Thapa, general secretary, Morcha (Binay camp).

Sources in the health department have said only one safe home — at Hatighisa (around 25km from Siliguri) — is operational now.

“There has been a steady surge in Covid 19 cases in the past fortnight. The data of RT-PCR tests with us show 2,300 cases were reported in Malda, which is highest in any north Bengal district, from April 1 to 17. During the same period, 1,174 new cases have been detected in Darjeeling district,” said an official.

In these 17 days, the number of cases also increased in Jalpaiguri (733) and North Dinajpur (698).

But it is comparatively less in South Dinajpur (322), Cooch Behar (245), Alipurduar (130) and in Kalimpong (88).

“We are testing around 1,400 samples every day at the VRD lab in the NBMCH,” the official said.

Later in the afternoon, Sushanta Roy, the officer on special duty for Covid-19 in north Bengal, held a meeting at the NBMCH. After the meeting, he said 110 beds were available at the hospital for treatment of Covid patients.

“We have identified four more wards where 96 more HDU beds will be made available for Covid patients. Also, the new safe house at the indoor stadium will be operational with a capacity of 70 beds,” he said.

According to him, the health department has no immediate plans to take over any private clinic for treatment of Covid patients in Siliguri.

In Jalpaiguri, the health department reopened the female department of the Covid-19 hospital in Biswa Bangla Krirangan on Monday.

The surge in infections has left residents of the town perturbed, particularly because the vaccination has stopped at the Jalpaiguri district hospital since April 15 because of shortage of vaccines.

“We are supposed to receive around 14,000 of vaccines on Tuesday and would immediately resume vaccination,” said a health official.

(Courtesy & source- https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/coronavirus-outbreak-race-to-contain-virus-in-north-bengal/cid/1813114)