Punjab Chief Secy bans elective surgeries in private hospitals, asks them to reserve 75 pc beds for COVID-19 patients

Chandigarh [India], April 21 : Punjab Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan, on Wednesday ordered an immediate ban on all the elective surgeries besides reserving 75 per cent beds in the private hospitals for COVID-19 patients to help conquer the ongoing second wave effectively.
Chairing a meeting of the administrative secretaries, Deputy Commissioners, Commissioners of Police, and Senior Superintendents of Police to review the current COVID situation, the Chief Secretary urged the people to come forward for Covid vaccination as it was safe and the only way to defeat the pandemic.
Sharing the communique from the Centre that a consignment of 4 lakh more doses of Covishield vaccine has been dispatched to Punjab, which will reach tomorrow, Mahajan directed the Health Department to further ramp up the ongoing vaccination drive.
She also ordered the delivery of the 'Corona Fateh Kit' (medical kit) and food kit if eligible to every patient on the very same day he/she tests positive.
Asking the DCs to ensure the update of CoWin portal on a regular basis, the Chief Secretary said the regular updating of the portal will also help them to know about the exact status of the vaccine doses available.
"Vaccine wastage should be further brought down and Covaxin vaccination centres should be set up at district, sub-division and select private hospitals," she instructed while emphasising the need to strategize vaccination centres in a manner so that at least 100 beneficiaries were covered per session.
Principal Secretary Health Hussan Lal apprised the Chief Secretary that they have reached the 54,000-mark in daily testing and will ramp it up further in the coming days.
Commending the health and frontline workers for discharging their duties with utmost sincerity and dedication, the Chief Secretary said the OPD patients should be encouraged for testing and vaccination.
"High risk home isolated patients should be visited every 2 days by health teams, besides strengthening the sampling teams to bring down the positivity rate to less than 5 per cent," she asked.
Allaying the rumours about oxygen shortage, Mahajan said the state has sufficient medical oxygen and no person will be allowed to hoard the oxygen illegally. "Strict action will be taken if anyone is found indulging in such illegal activity," she stressed while asking the district administrations to update their oxygen demand and supply on a daily basis.
The Director General of Police (DGP), Mr Dinkar Gupta, informed the meeting that the state police were ensuring strict enforcement of recently announced restrictions by the state government, including night curfew and restrictions on all types of gatherings in public places and homes as well.