Med college combating Covid-19 despite odds

Our Correspondent

Chamba, December 18

Since Chamba is a remote district of the state and the farthest from the state capital of Shimla, the healthcare of the people of this area at this critical time of the pandemic is a major concern.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Government Medical College and Hospital (PJNGMC&H), Chamba — which was announced in 2014 and became functional in 2017 — is being run from Akhand Chandi Palace. The institute is yet to have its own building complexes. The medical college has been undertaking its activities from the existing regional hospital building complex.

Since its inception, the medical college has been in the news due to the shortage of specialists, doctors and other supporting paramedical staff.

Despite the shortcomings, the medical college’s Principal and Dean Dr Ramesh Bharti recently took the initiative to set up a 15-bed Dedicated Covid Hospital in its existing hospital building with the provision of ventilators.

In the view of increasing the number of patients, this facility is now being increased to 30 beds. Out of these 30 beds, five would be ICU beds and 25 isolation beds with oxygen facility, said Dr Bharti.

“With this initiative, critically ill Covid-19 patients will no longer have to be referred to the faraway Tanda medical college for treatment,” he claimed. Apart from this, successful operations of cancer have also started in the medical college, which has come as a big relief for the poor people of the district, he added.

“At present, there is no medical gas pipeline manifold system, which is mandatory for high flow nasal oxygen. We are in the process of procuring it along with more oxygen cylinders through tenders,” Dr Bharti said.

“The arithmetic average processed by RT-PCR is 150 samples a day, but in reality it varies from 63 to 653. While the total samples processed by TrueNat are above 900, the average samples processed by RAT are 20 samples a day,” said Dr Bharti.

Currently, four specialists, two MDs with an anesthetist and pediatrician, were enthusiastically handling the situation. However, requirement for more specialists, including MD and supporting staff has been requested from the government, Dr Bharti said.

Ten nurses, 10 technicians and one data operator had recently been added to the existing staff combating Covid, he added.

Caption: The Chamba medical college hospital functioning from the regional hospital building.