Bhubaneswar: Participating in the fight against coronavirus pandemic, women self help groups (SHGs) have prepared 19.52 lakh masks for use of the people.
At least 208 SHGs have been engaged by Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society (ORMAS) under Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water department for preparation of masks and its distribution, said government spokesperson Subroto Bagchi here Monday.
To help the SHGs in selling their products, ORMAS has opened a sale counter before the State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD) here. One mobile van and 20 medicine stores are also facilitating the same, he said.
Speaking about other steps taken by government for COVID-19 management, Bagchi said a dedicated hospital has been made operational in Nuapada district. The hospital has 200 beds. With this, the number of COVID-19 hospitals in the state has increased to 34 and total number of beds has increased to 5,676.
The Panchayati Raj department has also geared up in arranging temporary medical camps to receive migrants for quarantine in the near future. So far, 7102 such camps with 2.27 lakh beds are functional.
The government is also trying to accelerate MGNREGS to provide wage employment during the lockdown period and secure livelihood of the people in this testing time.
