Jallianwala Bagh Martyrs Memorial Civil Hospital, Amritsar, gearing up for 3rd Covid wave

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 6

Getting ready to deal with the third Covid wave, the Health Department is setting up 72 beds at Jallianwala Bagh Martyrs Memorial Civil Hospital here, of which, 42 would be for children, while the remaining would be for adults.

The district health officials said the hospital would now be able to admit level-II category patients. Earlier, the Civil Hospital did not have any provisions to admit Covid positive patients.

The only government health facility allowed to admit Covid patients was Government Medical College. Civil Surgeon Dr Charanjit Singh said the department has also made arrangements to admit Covid patients at sub-divisional hospital in Ajnala.

He said at Civil Hospital, beds are already being assembled and Covid wards would be ready within a next few days. At present, the district has a capacity to have 918 level-II category patients. Of these, 299 in government sector, while 619 are in private hospitals. For level-III category patients, the district has a total of 550 beds, of which 320 beds are in government hospitals.

The Civil Surgeon said Covid vaccination is going on smoothly. “We appeal to all those who had still not received the vaccine to get it done at the earliest,” he said.

At present, apart from GMC and Military Hospital, the administration has allowed a total of 45 private hospitals to admit Covid patients. The health officials said all hospitals have been asked to be prepared for any situation.

Amritsar reports 131 cases in 24 hrs

Amritsar: The last 24 hours saw 131 persons testing positive for Covid in the district taking the tally to 47,788. Of these, 116 are new cases, while 15 are contacts of positive patients. The Health Department has reported recovery of one patient, with which the recovery count also increased to 45,863. The daily active caseload in the district is increasing at a fast pace, as it reached 326 on Thursday. Meanwhile, a total of 15,445 residents, including 224 children in the age group of 15 to 17 years, were inoculated on Thursday. Of the total, 6,121 residents received the first dose of the vaccine, while 6,645 received the second dose.

18 positive in Tarn Taran: As many as 18 persons tested positive for Covid-19 in the district on Thursday, taking the number of active cases to 61. Civil Surgeon Dr Rohit Mehta on Thursday said 38 patients had been quarantined at their respective homes. He said for the prevention of Covid, 3,638 citizens were inoculated on Thursday. A total of 6,39,662 residents had received 9,22,051 vaccines so far. The district administration asked residents to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour.

Omicron recovered’s family to undergo tests: A native of the border district tested positive (Omicron variant) upon his arrival from Italy at Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, around a week ago. The patient’s village falls under the jurisdiction of Kairon health block. Civil Surgeon Dr Rohit Mehta said the patient had come from Italy and tested positive. He said the patient was quarantined for a week and now tested negative. The Civil Surgeon said all family members of the person concerned would also be tested. tns/oc