Bhubaneswar: Following announcement of stringent measures to combat the dreaded coronavirus (COVID-19), the state government Friday evening tried to allay fears among the citizens about the pandemic.
Briefing the media here, Friday, state Health Secretary Nikunja Dhal and other top officials of the Health department and National Health Mission (NHM) said that the state hospitals and infrastructure are now ready to tackle the disease and its management but tried to exhort the people not to panic.
“80 per cent of the COVID-19 infections are mild in nature. Merely 15 per cent are severe. For mild infections treatment in isolation is ample which has been arranged at medical colleges and District Headquarters Hospitals (DHH) in the state. Seven medical colleges have facilities like ventilators to tackle severe cases,” said the health secretary.
The department claimed that till Friday evening a total of 138 suspected cases of coronavirus were kept in observation, mostly at home isolation while not single positive cases were found in the state till now. It also said that all private hospitals have been asked to ensure proper isolation wards and follow other protocols which the private doctors’ association is said to have assured to the state government. The department claimed that isolation wards with ventilator support have been given to Capital Hospital and other medical colleges from the state while the testing facility for cornonavirus has started at Regional Medical Research (RMC), Bhubaneswar.
The Health department also advised the media not to publish unverified news regarding coronoavirus which would create unnecessary panic. “Rumour mongering is creating more pandemic than the disease in this case. Some recent unverified media reports of some SCB doctors contracting COVID-19 was published in a section of media which soon saw decline in patient inflow to the hospital. Media should refrain from placing such news items which can magnify the woes of the people rather than giving relief to them,” the department said Friday.
The department also said that the state has now all the required drugs in place for tackling the disease and if required more drugs and other materials will be procured if needed.