Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference on Monday asked the government to explore methods to boost up the availability of oxygen at all government designated COVID-19 hospitals across Jammu and Kashmir as the demand for medical oxygen from hospitals and nursing homes is increasing in wake of increasing rate of infections.
Asking the government to ensure seamless availability of oxygen at all government designated hospitals; Party’s Spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said this while drawing attention of the government towards facilitating, controlling and coordinating the supply of oxygen to health establishments. He also stated that the areas declared as COVID-19 containment zones should also be provided with auxiliary oxygen beds. The measure he said will ease the burden from primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare facilities. He stated that the arrangement could be made possible by procuring spaces within the COVID-19 containment zones. Having such oxygen beds thickly available, he said will ensure hassle free critical care to infected persons at their doorsteps.
“It would have been better if the responsibility of monitoring, controlling and overseeing the availability of oxygen is entrusted to special nodal officers at every tehsil level. These nodal officers would also report to the government on the status of the cylinders at local health care centers, nursing homes on a daily basis. We are facing unprecedented times, unprecedented situation demand unprecedented efforts. The retort of the government to the current situation should not be fragmented; at this juncture all the government agencies are expected to work in sync with each other. The divisional administration should ensure minimum 36-hour oxygen back up in every hospital across J&K,” he said.
While expressing concern over the reports of scarcity of critical COVID-19 drugs in hospitals, Imran said the patience of the people waiting in queues to get the drug is thinning out as the government owned hospitals are running out of stock. “The insufficiency of critical COVID-19 drug like Remdesivir is a point of concern, which the government should address urgently. The government should ensure that COVID-19 patients in hospitals and in home isolation don’t face shortage of medicines. A control room to keep a round-the-clock vigil on the required stocks to ensure the supply chain of critical covid-19 drugs is the need of the hour. In addition to that there should be no let up on RTPCR tests,” he said.
On the staff shortfall in south Kashmir hospitals particularly in Kulgam, Shopian, Pulwama, Anantnag, he said that the acute shortage of medics, Para medical staff at all primary, secondary health care centers across south Kashmir is hampering day to day operations in these hospitals. He said despite locals making fervent appeals to higher-ups many a time, the administration has failed to increase the staff strength of hospitals and health care centers across south Kashmir. He also added that the absence of quarters at places for medics, Para medics is also hampering the availability of night staff at primary, secondary health care facilities across south Kashmir. “Hospitals spent months building stockpiles of medical equipment and other required things, but the supplies are of little use without adequate staffing. Care is more than a room with a hospital bed. It’s about professionals taking care of patients. Staff shortage is a serious concern, which the government is duty bound to address. I hope the administration wakes up on this issue as soon as possible,” he said.

KR Desk