Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh calls for audit of oxygen cylinders and ventilators in GMC Jammu

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for DoNER, MoS in Prime Minister’s Office; Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today called for audit of oxygen cylinders and ventilators in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir for the equitable distribution in time of distress for needy patients. He said, even a single death due to alleged unavailability of Oxygen causes tremendous social unrest and negates all the other good work if any. A confidence building message has to go out loud and clear that a premier institution like GMC Jammu will ensure that not a single death occurs on account of Oxygen unavailability.

Dr Singh made the clarion call during a high level meeting of administration and medical staff convened by him in view of certain disturbing reports emanating from Govt Medical College, Jammu with regard to COVID management facilities. The meeting was attended by Advisor to LG Sh Bhatnagar, Financial Commissioner, Sh Atal Dullo, Divisional Commissioner Sh Raghav Langer, DC Jammu Sh Anshul Garg apart from the Principal, GMC Jammu Dr Shashi Sudan Sharma and others.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, community management is a vital component of optimum Covid management and the GMC as well as the administrative authorities should not feel shy of taking the community into confidence and soliciting their cooperation.

Dr Singh asked about various steps being taken by the administration for augmenting the oxygen capacity of Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu and various District Hospitals across the UT. In this regard it was informed that two Oxygen Plants each of 1200 lpm capacity have been set up in GMC Jammu. A 1000 lpm Oxygen plant has also been set up in Chest and Diseases Hospital, Jammu. Further, in Govt. Hospital, Gandhi Nagar another 1000 lpm plant has been set up. In addition to this, two more plants are being set up in GMC Jammu to augment its oxygen capacity. With regard to the buffer stocks of Oxygen cylinders Dr Singh was informed that presently buffer stock of 400 cylinders was present in GMC Jammu. While commending the steps being taken to augment the oxygen capacity of hospitals Dr Singh called for audit of oxygen capacity as well as ventilators in the UT so that no lives should be lost for want of critical care. He further expressed his support to Administration and Hospital Staff for fighting the battle against Covid and saving precious lives of people

Dr Jitendra Singh instructed the Divisional Commissioner to post one Mechanical Engineer and one Biomedical Engineer in GMC to exclusively look after the upkeep of Oxygen supply so that the patient’s attendants or nurses do not have to undergo the ordeal of struggling to maintain oxygen supply. He asked for a regular issue of medical bulletin by the authorities and keeping public representatives informed about what is being done by the GMC informed.

Dr Singh also reviewed the situation of the ventilators to handle critical patients. In this regard it was informed that around 60 ventilators and Respirators were being provided to GMC Jammu.

To overcome the shortage of staff, Dr Jitendra Singh asked the administration to engage post-graduate students, final year medical Students paramedical and nursing students to fight the problem of lack of human resource. Dr Singh urged the GMC Doctors to surrender their private rooms/chambers in Chopra Nursing Home so that the same could be converted into COVID chambers.

For the patient’s relatives, Dr Jitendra Singh asked for arranging proper SoPs and PPE kits. Instead of being dealt by police force, the patient’s relatives should be sensitively counselled with the help of social volunteers and well-meaning NGOs. For this, he assigned the DC Garg to take the responsibility.

While taking a stock of vaccination status in Jammu, Dr Singh was informed that around 96% of population of the age-group of 45 plus had been vaccinated in Jammu alone while the figure was around 60% for the whole UT. He was also informed that the vaccination in the age-group 18-45 years was under process and daily around 200-250 shots in this age group were being provided in Jammu and around 16,438 persons had received first dose in this age group. Dr Singh suggested that better information flow to the public should be carried out to facilitate the vaccination process and if the vaccination centre is not operating at a certain time, it should be frankly conveyed to the public.

Dr Singh also said that the referral process should be streamlined and only patients that need critical care should be shifted to GMC Jammu. In this regard, he was informed that Home kits were being provided to covid patients and call centres had been engaged for making calls to covid patients on regular basis so that patients only in dire need of hospitalisation may visit hospitals.

Dr Singh also called for better coordination and synergy between various departments, involvement of civil society groups and NGOs for reaching out to the public to fight covid and follow covid appropriate behaviour. He further said that the Union Government was committed to support the UT administration and to fill in missing gaps where required so as to save lives and improve the health infrastructure of the UT.