The Odisha government on Thursday stated that the State may see more than 19,000 cases during the peak period of the possible Covid-19 third wave or 1.5 times more than the cases reported during the peak times during the second wave.
In a letter to all the District Collectors and Magistrates, PK Mohapatra, the Additional Chief Secretary of the State Health and Family Welfare (H&FW) Department said that the effect of the possible third wave of Covid-19 pandemic will remain for 75 days.
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During the 75 days, the cases may reach 19,278 during the peak period and 10,217 cases may come on a per day average in Odisha. Similarly, the total number of cases is expected to be around 7,66,275 in these 75 days compared to 5,21,150 in the second wave (from April 1 to June 15), he said.
Mohapatra, in the letter, asked the district collectors to remain prepared till March 2022.
Keeping the scenario in mind, the State has issued guidelines to spend Rs 800 crore sanctioned by the Centre under the Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package: Phase-II (ECRP-II), 2021-22 to combat the COVID emergency and strengthen public healthcare delivery system during the third wave of the pandemic.
It may be worth mentioning here that the Centre had earlier approved a total of Rs 23,123 crore for the entire country under the ECRP-II to be shared at the ratio of 60:40 by the Centre and States.
Under the Phase-II emergency package 2021-22, Odisha approved Rs 94.93 crore for the procurement of RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen Test Kits, Rs 5 crore would be spent to establish 16 new RTPCR laboratories at District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) level, Rs 30 crore for buying essential Drugs for Covid Management, Rs 75.18 crore on establishment of dedicated Paediatric Care Unit in all DHHs, Rs 5 crore for establishment of Pediatric CoE at Medical Colleges/ State Hospital/ Central Government Hospital.
Similarly, Rs 139 crore has been approved for creation of additional beds for covid care in 245 Community Health Centres (CHC) and 551 Primary Health Centres PHC) while Rs 124.69 crore would be spent on creation of 740 ICU beds for public healthcare facilities with focus on paediatric care.
The government has also approved Rs 176 crore for 28 field hospitals at selected DHHs, SDHs and CHC, Rs 53.82 crore would be spent on ambulance support for Covid patients and Rs 12.60 crore for establishment of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) plants and Medical Gas Pipeline System (MGPS).
The State government has made a provision to provide Rs 24.67 crore to pay monthly honorarium to Medical PG Residents (Rs 25,000), Medical UG Interns (Rs 22,000), Final Year MBBS students (Rs 20,000), Final Year GNM Nursing students (Rs 18,000) & Final Year BSc. Nursing students (Rs 20,000) for their deployment in Covid duty.
Similarly, Rs 16 crore has been approved for support to DHHs for implementing CDAC supported HMIS modules in District Hospitals and Rs 31.88 crore would be utilised to strengthen telemedicine and tele-consultation services and Rs 15 lakh has been earmarked for training and capacity building of healthcare service providers for different components approved under ECRP-II.
Mohapatra also directed the district collectors to complete the commissioning of the infrastructure by December this year.
(Edited By Pradeep Singh)