JORHAT, July 18 - State Health and Family Welfare Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today announced here that the Government was thinking of setting up a temporary Covid-19 hospital at Jorhat to tackle the increasing number of positive cases in the district in recent times.
It may be mentioned here that total number of positive cases in Jorhat district till July 17 was 673.
Sarma after holding a discussion at the Jorhat Circuit House with district administration officials, JMCH authorities, and MLAs of Jorhat, Mariani, Teok, Dergaon and Titabar legislator's representative, told newspersons here that the Government was thinking of setting up a temporary hospital at Jorhat to treat Covid-19 patients.
The Covid-19 scenario was reviewed at the said meeting. Sarma said that the Government will try to build a temporary Covid-19 hospital here in which 400 to 500 patients could be treated. The Minister said that the proposed temporary hospital will be able to supplement the ongoing fight against novel coronavirus.
He said that another decision taken in the discussion, also attended by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Revenue and Disaster Management Jogen Mohan, Jorhat MP Topon Kumar Gogoi and Rajya Sabha MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa, was to open Covid-19 screening centres in the municipal wards.
He said screening centres will be able to lower the load of JMCH as people instead of directly coming to the institute could first get checked through the Rapid Antigen test.
The Minister said cases may rise in August but there was no need to panic as the government was taking all necessary measures to tackle such kind of situation and hoped that the said period will pass over without any major problem.
He also said the certain problems faced at JMCH were discussed threadbare, and accordingly, the required steps to overcome the shortcomings were decided.
Replying to a query regarding the ongoing total lockdown in JMB and 11 suburban areas, the Minister said that the Jorhat Deputy Commissioner will take the decision after reviewing the situation.
However, Sarma stated that the government has directed that the withdrawal of lockdown to be done in a phased manner.
�Unlocking process should be carried out gradually as it will be done in Guwahati tomorrow,� Sarma said.
Earlier in the day, Sarma visited JMCH, interacted with doctors, nurses, other supporting staff and reviewed the situation of the institute.
After donning a PPE suit, the Minister interacted with Covid-19 patients including the four who were in the ICU.
