With 1 Isolation Bed per 11,000 People and 1 ICU Bed per 71,000, Assam Prepares to Fight COVID-19

Dispur, April 2, 2020:

As Assam prepares to deal with the new coronavirus or COVID-19 that has killed thousands in 203 countries across the world, the question on everyone's minds seems to be: is the state's health infrastructure prepared to tackle the crisis? Does Assam have enough isolation beds, ICU beds? How does it fare in the quarantine facility department?

ALSO READ: Breaking: Arunachal Pradesh Records first Positive Case of COVID-19 in Tezu

Going by the census of 2011, Assam has a population of around 31,169,272.

The Assam Health and Family Welfare Department on April 1 has stated that 2,769 isolation beds are available for treating critically ill patients in both Government and private hospitals. Thus, keeping the population figures from the 2011 census, this translates to around one bed for every 11,256 Assamese.

Meanwhile, the number of ICU beds available in Government hospitals and private hospitals is 435, that is, one bed for 71,653.

The number of persons that can be housed in the quarantine facilities in the State (those who are asymptomatic but suspected) is 7,215. This means that the facility can be accorded to one in every 4,320 citizens of Assam.

Assam Health Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma has also admitted in a recent television interview that the problem with Assam is in the numbers as the state still does not have enough health facilities to accommodate enough people in the case of an outbreak in the vein of US, China, Italy, et al.

The Minister pointed out that at a time when countries with the best health infrastructures have been overburdened by the outbreak, Assam will be hard-pressed to provide adequate medical assistance to the afflicted.

This has prompted the State's health department to scale up the health infrastructure so that when the coronavirus does arrive, the officials are somewhat prepared to deal with an outbreak. Already work has begun on a multi-crore 2000-bed quarantine facilities in two stadiums in Guwahati city, where the work is near-completion.

ALSO READ: Breaking: Arunachal Pradesh Records first Positive Case of COVID-19 in Tezu

It is pertinent to mention here that the Central Government ordered a 21-day lockdown to ease the burden on the Indian Government's already-stressed public health infrastructure. With cases on the rise and India reportedly inching towards Stage-3 of the outbreak or community transmission (when the source of infection is not known for majority of the infected population and new positive cases can no longer be traced to diagnosed cases), the burden on the health system will only get heavier.

Coronavirus in Assam by the Numbers:

36,690 : Number of Passengers Screened at airports.

[Breakup: 28,839 screened at LGBI airport, Guwahati; 3,497 screened at Mohanbari Airport, Dibrugarh; 2,877 at Roroiya Airport, Jorhat; 1262 at Kumbhirgram Airport, Silchar; 764 at Lilabari Airport, Lakhimpur, 114 at Saloinibari Airport at Tezpur]

13,158 : Number of passengers screened at Land Ports at Darrang (Baksa), Mankachar (South Salmara), and Sutarkandi (Karimganj).

149,191 : Total number of people screened at different Railway Stations.

67,436 : The identified number of people who have come to Assam from COVID-19 affected countries or other Indian States. 1,745 people have completed observation period of 28 days, and 65,691 are under home observation. 549 samples have been tested so far.

2 : Number of samples sent to National Institute of Virology in Pune. Both tested negative.

267 : Samples sent to the Virological Lab GMCH, Guwahati. 4 Samples have tested positive.

30 : Number of samples sent to the JMCH in Jorhat.

52 : Samples sent to SMCH in Silchar; 1 has returned a positive result.

15 : Samples sent to FAAMCH, Barpeta. 2 found negative.

5848 : Number of calls received on the helpline 104 (Sarathi) and Control Room for information about the COVID-19.

206 : Number of ventilators available in Government hospitals and private hospitals.

379,278 : Number of persons who have been surveyed so far.

945 : Persons who came in contact with COVID-19 positive cases and kept under home surveillance as they are asymptomatic.

Note: Since this report was published, the number of cases in Assam has risen to sixteen; eight more positive cases were identified in Golaghat district and 3 more positive cases were identified in Goalpara.

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