Coronavirus: Assam shelves temporary hospital plan, targets

creating 1,000 ICU beds

Guwahati, Apr 20 () The Assam government on Mondaysaid it has shelved a plan to construct five temporaryhospitals for COVID-19 patients, and in its place set a targetof creating 1,000 ICU beds at its permanent facilities acrossthe state.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Himanta Biswa Sarmasaid that the decision was taken considering the currentsituation in which permanent infrastructure in the healthcaresector needs to be strengthened in the state.

"The fear of coronavirus is there in the state at thismoment. So we are focussing on increasing the strength atpermanent hospitals," he said at a press conference here.

On March 26, Sarma had announced that the state wasplanning to build five temporary hospitals with 300 beds eachacross the state to treat COVID-19 positive patients.

Sarma, who is also the state Finance minister,informed that the government has collected Rs 99.56 croreas donations in Asom Arogya Nidhi account for creating thetemporary structures, but it will stop collecting it after theamount touches Rs 101 crore.

"Now our target is to create 1,000 Intensive Care Unit(ICU) beds in our own hospitals. Many hospital buildings arecoming up at the moment in the districts. In this way, we willhave our own permanent facilities," he added.

The Central government is likely to provide Rs 168crore to the state for its fight against the novelcoronavirus, Sarma said.

"Therefore, with Rs 100 crore from Asom Arogya Nidhi,we will have Rs 268 crore in total. It will be sufficient toaugment our existing facilities," he added.

According to the Assam Health and Family WelfareDepartment's daily bulletin on Sunday, there are 440 ICU bedsand 303 ventilators in government and private hospitals fortreating COVID-19 positive cases.

The state has tested a total of 4,865 samples so farfor novel coronavirus, of which 34 have been found positiveand one has died, while 18 have been cured and released fromhospitals. TRMM MM