Kangra dist to get 34 more ventilator-equipped beds

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, May 19

Kangra district is all set to get 34 more ventilator-equipped beds. At present, there are just 60 such beds at the Tanda medical college that caters to patients from Kangra, Chamba, Una and Hamipur districts.

The presence of low number of ventilator-equipped beds in Kangra district is said to be one of the reasons for the high death rate of Covid patients in the region. On an average, Kangra district has been accounting for over 20 per cent of the deaths in the state.

Kangra Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Prajapati, when contacted, said in the near future, 34 beds equipped with ventilators would be added at the Tanda college. Out of these, 19 beds would be provided by the Union Government while 15 beds would be provided by the state government, he said.

Sources here said the entire load of critical patients from Chamba district was also being shifted to the Tanda medical college. There are five ventilator beds in the Covid hospital of the Chamba medical college but there are not enough anesthetists to operate them. As per rules, only anesthetist doctors can operate ventilator-equipped beds.

Sources said in case the state government deploys anesthetist doctors from the IGMC, Shimla, and other hospitals rationally in the Covid hospitals of the district, it can help reduce the burden on medical colleges.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur also expressed concern over a high death rate in Kangra district due to Covid today.

Congress leaders alleged that the state government was not doing enough for Kangra in terms of providing health facilities like ventilator-equipped beds. Former minister and senior Congress leader GS Bali today alleged that the government should make special arrangements for Covid testing and providing treatment to special children and people with special needs.

He said patients suffering from other medical emergencies like heart ailments or cancer had been suffering as super-specialty hospital in Tanda medical college had been converted into a Covid hospital. He said patients requiring super-specialty treatment from the state had nowhere to go now.