Jharkhand preparing to combat possible third COVID-19 wave: State health minister

Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], August 31 (ANI): With the third COVID-19 wave expected to peak anytime between October and November in India, the Jharkhand government is making arrangements to contain the spread and reduce its effect, state health minister, Banna Gupta said.
Speaking to ANI, Gupta said that as the third wave is expected to affect the children more, ventilators have been set up for them across the state.
"We've made arrangements for the anticipated third wave of COVID. Ventilators have been set up for children across the state. Around 76 per cent of people live in rural areas, so we can't neglect them. We are focusing on all things and moving forward," said the Jharkhand health minister.
He added that the state government has acquired the services of experts and procured the latest medical equipment to combat the potential third wave.
Talking about the preparation to deal with the next expected wave of the pandemic in the state capital, Dr Vinod Kumar, Civil Surgeon, Ranchi informed that Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) wards have been set up at Ranchi Sadar Hospital.
"We have 27 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and 24 High Dependency Unit (HDU) beds in the PICU ward. If needed, we'll utilise the 16-bedded Special Newborn Care Units (SNCU) as NICU ward," said Kumar.
He, however, highlighted the staff crunch to deal with the possible surge in the number of infections, and said, "We need 11-12 paediatricians but we only have seven now. We've written to the dept regarding this."
Giving information regarding the arrangements made for adult patients, the Civil Surgeon said, "We have a 50-bed ICU for adults. 250 general beds are also there which can be converted into a COVID ward if required. All beds have pipeline-supported oxygen." (ANI)