ITANAGAR, April 21 - Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu has said that the State will have two separate COVID-19 hospitals � one at Itanagar for the western zone and the other at Pasighat for the eastern zone.
�In Pasighat, an Ayurveda institute has been identified as COVID-19 hospital. For Itanagar, a suitable place will be identified as COVID-19 hospital somewhere in an isolated area. This is to let TRIHMS (hospital at Naharlagun, which was converted into COVID-19 hospital) attend to normal patients,� stated a CMO release here.
The decision to set up the two COVID-19 hospitals in the State was made public by the Chief Minister today while interacting with members and district presidents of the BJP Mahila Morcha through video conferencing. The video conferencing was also attended by State BJP Mahila Morcha president Higio Aruni. This was the third video conference the Chief Minister had held with party workers on COVID-19 this month.
During the interaction, Khandu urged the Mahila Morcha leaders to spread the message on wearing of face masks and practising social distancing to combat COVID-19.
�The Chief Minister urged them to spread words on social distancing, on mandatory use of face masks (when one steps out of home), and on maintaining all safety guidelines,� the CMO release said.
Khandu urged the party members to encourage people to exercise caution and maintain safety measures, while pointing out that once the lockdown was lifted, people stranded outside the State would start rushing in and that is when strict measures would be needed to stop the spread of the deadly virus.
The Chief Minister stated that due to risk of the virus entering Arunachal Pradesh through potential carriers coming from outside the State, 11 check gates along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border have been made operational. Frontline workers on duty in these check gates are being provided with all safety kits and equipment, he said.
The Chief Minister also assured that the State would have no shortage of personal protection equipment (PPE) kits, and an order would be placed for more kits.
