Governor Bandaru Dattatraya has stressed on telemedicine in healthcare and said that more telemedicine centers should be set up in the state especially in the tribal areas so that people of far-flung areas could get medical facility easily by using telecommunication techniques.
He was taking brief regarding present scenario of Covid-19, vaccination programme and other health related issues in the State from higher officials of Health Department in the presence of Amitabh Awasthi, Principal Secretary, Health Services at Raj Bhavan, today.
The Governor said that sufficient quantity of vaccines have been supplied to the State by the Central Government and expressed satisfaction that the campaign has been successfully completed in the first phase and vaccination of about 76 percent health care workers has been completed. He said that due to the concerted efforts of the State Government, the State positioned fifth in the country in terms of vaccination of health care workers and all work has been done in the stipulated time period.
Shri Dattatraya said that in Himachal, COVID cases have shown downward trends since December 15 and most of the activities run smoothly in the present situation. He appreciated the efforts of Health Department and said that during CORONA pandemic, all frontline health workers have done excellent job in the direction of rescue.
“Carelessness should not creep in our behaviour and people have realized the importance of wearing mask and focused on cleanliness”, said the Governor
The Governor directed the authorities to take appropriate decision for those students who have made degrees on regular basis at universities on which fake degrees cases have been processed.
Shri Awasthi apprised the Governor that presently there were 58112 COVID cases of in the state, out of which 56646 have been cured. He said that there were 477 active cases and 977 deaths have been reported so far. He said that dedicated COVID Hospitals were gradually being converted for regular work. He said that four fabricated hospitals have been set up in the state for corona treatment and after complete control over the pandemic, the Fabricated Hospital established at the IGMC in Shimla will be used for the ICU for Medicine and in Tanda for communicable diseases, while fabricated hospital in Nalagarh will be converted into an advanced trauma centre. He said that the second dose of 1.83 lakh vaccine has been got in the state and new doses would increase vaccination campaign in all districts of the State.
He informed that an amount of Rs. 1500 per month was being provided to 7842 Asha workers in the State, which the government has provided an additional amount of Rs. 1000 per month during March-June, 2020 and Rs. 2000 in July and August during COVID-19. He said that treatment through telemedicine was being provided in the first phase in 25 health Institutes of Chamba, Sirmaur and Shimla. In addition, 50 sub-health centers in the State have been provided treatment through telemedicine.
Dr. Ravi Sharma, Director Medical Education and other officials were also present on the occasion.
