Jamshedpur, April 20: The Covid fatalities being reported in the city have witnessed a steep rise with 54 deaths being reported in just five days at Tata Main Hospital. Moreover, one third of the deaths were between the age group of 40 to 60 years. This was the first time the death toll among young people has increased. Deaths were mainly because of Covid pneumonia.
Addressing a teleconference Dr Rajan Choudhry, advisor, medical services, Tata Steel informed that the second wave of Covid proved more fatal than the first wave. The situation is very serious in the city right now. Out of 54 deaths, 41 were from East Singhbhum, four from Seraikela Kharsawan, three from West Singhbhum, one from Dhanbad and three from Ramgarh.
The hospital is conducting 1500 tests daily and the average positivity rate is 37 per cent, which is very high in terms of spread of the virus.
Dr Choudhry informed Tata Main Hospital (TMH) has started operating 515 Covid beds out of these 365 beds at the hospital premises while rest 150 are at GT Hostel 4. The hospital plans to add 28 beds by Wednesday.
He said that the hospital is also focussing on vaccination drive. The hospital has so far administered 30965 vaccines which comprises 3781 double doses. Under Workplace Vaccination drive more than 2300 vaccines have been provided.To contain the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of India started the COVID Vaccination programme on 16 January 2021. Vaccination is being made available to those eligible as per the existing guidelines of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. As per the government guidelines, all people above the age of 45 years, irrespective of the comorbidities, are eligible for vaccination from April 1. Advance appointments can be booked through cowin.gov.in. The hospital is also preparing itself to start a vaccination drive for 18 years and above from May 1.
He informed that the virus is also hitting the hospital hard as 27 doctors of TMH have been tested Covid positive while 13 other doctors have been isolated as they came in contact with a positive patient. Other 60 health workers including 20 nurses are also down with the virus. They have been kept in isolation.
“In order to compensate for the shortage of health staff, we are taking help from non-medical volunteers provided by the HR Department of Tata Steel. These volunteers are deployed at JRD Tata sports complex and GT hostel 4 for testing,” informed the advisor.
