Ranchi, May 11: As many as 300 ex-army personnel are willing to extend their services as corona-warriors to Jharkhand, battling the deadly surge of Covid-19 pandemic, Chief Minister Hemant Soren said on Tuesday.
Chairing a high-level meeting on strategy to contain spread of the virus in the state with the legislators and parliamentarians of South Chota Nagpur and Kolhan divisions, Soren said the government was roping them in a bid to address a manpower crunch in combatting the disease.
"Sainik Welfare Board has informed us that they will be extending help to the state government in battling with Covid-19. Three hundred ex-army personnel have offered their services as corona warriors," Soren said.
These personnel would be used in managing Covid-19 patients and ancillary services needed to combat the pandemic, officials said.
Jharkhand on Tuesday reported 129 fresh fatalities, pushing the toll to 3,982, while 6,187 new cases raised the tally to 2,92,530 during the last 24 hours.
Soren said the government is willing to take the services of retired doctors and health workers in this hour of crisis and urged the MPs and MLAs to make available the list of such manpower to the Health Department so that they can be roped in.
The state government, he said, has augmented infrastructure raising the number of oxygen beds to about 10,000 in the state from barely over 100 and all efforts are on to boost the numbers of ventilators.
Soren urged officials and public representatives to ensure that bodies of those dying of Covid-19 are cremated as per protocol to prevent spread of the virus, especially in rural areas.
To ensure that necessary drugs reached rural areas, he said so far 45,000 corona medical kits have been distributed through Anganwadi centres.
He urged people to come forward for vaccination in large numbers.
The Chief Minister said that the state was not only serious to battle the disease but was also extending help to other states and was supplying 600 tonnes of oxygen to them.
The state has announced a free vaccination drive for the 18-44 age group from May 14. It has placed an order for 50 lakh doses of vaccines for this.
The state currently has 57,902 active cases, while 2,30,646 patients have so far recovered from the disease with capital Ranchi recording the maximum number of fresh fatalities at 35, followed by East Singhbhum at 16 and Giridih at 11.
As per the Health Department, the recovery rate among coronavirus patients in the state stands at 78.84 per cent as against the national average of 82.40 per cent.
Mortality rate in the state is higher at 1.36 per cent as against the national rate of 1.10 per cent.
Altogether, 74, 24,936 samples have been tested for COVID-19 in the state so far, including 1,00,724 in the last 24 hours.
"Seven days growth rate" were recorded in the state at 1.85 per cent as against national growth rate of 1.33 per cent. - PTI
