Assam Congress urges govt to enhance hospital beds, improve oxygen supply to tackle COVID crisis

Guwahati, May 5: A delegation of Congress leaders in Assam on Wednesday met Chief Secretary Jishnu Baruah and urged him to enhance the number of hospital beds and improve oxygen supply to medical facilities across the state to tackle the second wave of COVID-19.

The team, led by the party's state unit president Ripun Bora, submitted a memorandum to the CS, expressing concern over the prevailing COVID situation.The party also demanded augmentation of testing capacity and inclusion of medical students, 'Asha' workers, midwives and other trained health professionals in hospitals to strengthen human resources to fight against the pandemic.

Bora said they appealed to the government to take capacity-building measures, including enhancement of beds in all district hospitals and medical facilities in sub-divisional headquarters and ensure uninterrupted oxygen supplies across the state.

The state had on Tuesday reported 4,475 new COVID-19 cases, which pushed the tally to 2,67,925, and the death toll rose to 1,430 with 41 fatalities due to the infection.

The COVID situation in Assam has become "little alarming", and the government has taken measures to scale up ICU facilities and hospital beds, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said on May 4.

The Congress also called for the procurement of more vaccines and requested the government to start the immunisation drive for those in the age group of 18 to 44 years. The state has received a fresh batch of 1.5 lakh 'Covaxin' doses from Bharat Biotech, Sarma said.

According to the National Health Mission bulletin, 27,45,383 people have been inoculated in the state till Tuesday, with 5,97,684 of them having received both doses of the COVID vaccine.

Following reports of many non-COVID patients being deprived of proper treatment in hospitals, the opposition party in the state requested the CS to take steps so that such people get care in medical facilities.

Contingency measures must be taken so that supplies of all essential commodities should not be affected and prices remain affordable, Bora said. He said the Congress will extend full cooperation to the government in dealing with the COVID crisis. PTI