COVID-19 Mock Drill: Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian Reviews Preparedness in Chennai Hospital, Says Govt Ready To Tackle Spike in Cases
Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian, who oversaw a mock drill at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital here on Tuesday, said the state had a sufficient stock of medicines, beds, equipment and oxygen to tackle any spike in COVID-19 cases.
Chennai, December 27: Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian, who oversaw a mock drill at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital here on Tuesday, said the state had a sufficient stock of medicines, beds, equipment and oxygen to tackle any spike in COVID-19 cases.
Also, district-level health officials have been told to inspect the facilities to assess the preparedness and submit a report to the health department soon, he said. COVID-19 Scare: Mumbai Hospitals to Conduct Mock Drill to Check Health Infrastructure Preparedness for Coronavirus.
Reiterating that the state machinery is fully prepared to face another wave of the pandemic, Subramanian told reporters at the RGGGH that Tamil Nadu has six months' stock of medicine, 1,954 million tonne oxygen, besides 1,75,291 beds at all the government and private hospitals across the state. COVID-19 Scare: Hyderabad Hospital Conducts Coronavirus Mock Drill, Says Telangana Government’s Oxygen Plant Produces Plenty of Oxygen.
"Although the average daily requirement for oxygen is about 60-65 MT, with a demand for over 400 MT during peak COVID-19 period, Tamil Nadu has sufficient stock of 1,954 MT oxygen and six months stock of medicine. So, the public need not panic," the minister assured.
Of the total bed strength, about 1,14,471 beds have been earmarked for COVID-19. Of these, 68,624 are non-oxygen beds, 37,526 oxygen beds and 8,321 intensive care unit beds in both government and private hospitals in the state.
The government facilities alone account for 1,25,360 beds and 72,209 of these were allotted for COVID-19 emergencies with 51,945 non-oxygen beds, 17,542 oxygen beds and 2,722 intensive care unit beds, he said.
Stating that the present mock drill was undertaken in conformity with the Centre's guidelines to assess the state of preparedness of the facilities in the state, Subramanian said Tamil Nadu has been reporting coronavirus cases in single digit over the past few days with 51 active cases in the last 24 hours.
Omicron sub-variant BF.7 is in circulation in countries such as Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, France, Italy, Germany and Brazil, he said.
Health Secretary P Senthilkumar, Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Dr T S Selvavinayagam and RGGGH dean E Theranirajan were among those present during the mock drill.