GUWAHATI, Aug 11 - Amidst the national crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Border Security Force Frontier HQ Guwahati, is not only manning the Indo-Bangladesh border, it has also established a COVID care centre at the Composite Hospital, Patgaon here, for treatment of BSF personnel and their dependants.
The BSF headquarters felt that its medical team can be useful for treating at least the troops and their dependants, which would also lessen the burden on the government.
The Frontier HQ Medical Directorate, accordingly, directed all Composite Hospitals of the BSF to be well-equipped to face the dreaded disease.
The Composite Hospital at Patgaon was assigned to establish a 30-bed COVID care centre. The necessary permission to establish a 30-bed COVID care centre at the BSF campus here was accorded by the State experts after visiting the place and facilities on July 16. All required arrangements for treating 30 patients at a time, including temporary infrastructure, equipment, PPEs, doffing and donning, oxygen pipeline, training for collecting samples for RT-PCR and rapid antigen tests, were made available in the drill shed of the Guwahati Frontier from July 16 onwards with full support and guidance of the Frontier HQ.
Within�a short period, all the 30 beds were occupied by COVID-positive�patients and they were treated by nurses, paramedics and a team of doctors of the Composite Hospital at Patgaon with optimal utilization of available resources.
The first batch of six personnel, including an officer, recovered and they were discharged on July 30. The second batch of 14 personnel was discharged on August 3, the third batch of six personnel was discharged on August 6, and lastly, one patient was discharged yesterday.
The efforts and involvement of the dedicated medical and paramedical staff of the Composite Hospital, availability of equipment and medication, training of staff and other necessary arrangements within a very short period have been appreciated by the State health authorities and the higher officers of BSF.�
It needs to be mentioned that the BSF Guwahati Frontier is following all the norms laid down by WHO as well as the Central government to counter COVID-19.
The Seema Praharis of the Frontier, apart from managing the Indo-Bangla border, also assist the border-dwelling population during emergencies as well as in providing medical assistance.
