Assam has surplus oxygen supply, no scarcity of ICU beds: Himanta Biswa Sarma

Assam Health and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday assured that the state has surplus supply of oxygen and is in a comfortable situation at least for the next 10 days.

Addressing a press meet in Guwahati, Sarma informed that the state currently is consuming around 20 Metric Tonnes (MT) of oxygen. The total oxygen capacity in the state is 61 MT with a surplus of 40 MT.

It may mentioned that Assam has 8 government-owned oxygen plants and 4 private sector plants in Bongaigaon, Dimapur, Bhutan, and Meghalaya.

Further, 3 more would be added by April end which will be in-house at private hospitals. The state has also expanded its Oxygen storage capacity to 468 MT.

Taking to Twitter, Sarma wrote, “Over next 10 days we are comfortable about Oxygen supply. Over next week we shall also operationalise 3 more Oxygen plants. We’ve a stock of 25,000 #Remdevisir. In addition to patients in govt hospitals, we’re also supporting pvt hospitals.”

Speaking about the Remdesivir injections the minister said that currently, the state has a stock of 25,000 injections.

Further, the minister added that nursing homes cannot charge more than Rs 1568 for Remdesivir injections bought from GMCH.

Listing out the availability of beds in government hospitals across Guwahati, the minister said, “Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) has 420 beds with 92 ICU beds, Kalapahar Govt Hospital – 38 ICU Beds, Mahindra Mohan Choudhary Hospital (MMCH) – 24 ICU beds.”

He stated 52 patients have been undergoing treatment in the ICUs against the total capacity of 150 beds in Guwahati.

Sarma also stated that Assam government has added 200 more ICU beds in the last 10 days to combat COVID-19.

“We’ve added 200 more ICU beds in last 10 days, and efforts are on increase this further. We’re grateful to Govt of India for the support. As of today, we’re comfortable about beds, oxygen, medicine and ICU availability for next 10 days. You all BE SAFE,” he added.

Meanwhile, all the elementary schools in Assam up to class 8 will remain closed in the districts where the total number of Covid cases reached 100-mark in last ten days.