Ranchi, July 11: Jamshedpur Sadar Hospital and the nine community health centres in East Singhbhum would get 662 pulse oximeters and 50 digital thermometers as part of preparation for Covid third wave.
The state cell in-charge (warehouse) at National Health Mission, Jharkhand in Ranchi has informed all the civil surgeons including East Singhbhum’s civil surgeon Dr A. K Lal about 200 pulse oximeter and 1000 digital thermometers for all the district hospitals and community health centers (CHCs).
Jamshedpur would get 10 pulse oximeter and 50 digital thermometers which would be distributed at it Sadar Hospital in Khasmahal and nine community health centers.
In addition, Jamshedpur would be getting 394 pulse oximeter which have been donated by DPS Bokaro, 32 from Kishore Import and 32 from Doctors For You and four from Government agency HLL.
Meanwhile with significant drop in Covid cases and deaths, the Jharkhand government has shifted its focus on post-Covid complications and causes of death among survivors with the health department directing all 24 districts to send data related to health disorders and casualties reported at dedicated post-Covid care facilities to the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) every day.
The National Health Mission (NHM) director, in a letter addressed to all the deputy commissioners recently, asked them to send details such as the number of visits by Covid survivors, number of admitted patients, number of patients receiving physiotherapy or any alternate therapy, number of patients discharged and the number of fatalities at post-Covid care centres every day by 5pm.
“So far, no fatalities have been reported at any of the post-Covid care centres. We started compiling data related to post-Covid complications on Saturday, and it is too early to draw any inference on the types of health disorders that were most prevalent among Covid survivors in the state,” said Dr Ranjit Mandal, the nodal officer appointed for post-Covid care centres in Jharkhand.
The decision of reporting daily entries and treatments at post-Covid care centres comes close on the heels of the reportage of a new crippling condition called “bone death” among Covid survivors in some parts of India. Avascular necrosis, a health complication that causes the death of bone tissues, has been reported in some Covid survivors in Pune who were treated with high doses of steroids during treatment.
Jharkhand has operational post-Covid care centres in all 24 districts. Many cases of Covid-induced mucormycosis, or black fungus, also came to light at these centres earlier this year.
As per the latest directive from the health department, the districts also need to mention the number of patients who were referred to “higher centres” from the post-Covid care centres for better treatment.
As per government data, as many as 3,46,279 Jharkhand residents have been infected by Covid virus so far and more than 98 per cent of them have recovered.