Arunachal Pradesh rolls out long term policy for developing health infrastructure

The Arunachal Pradesh government has initiated a long-term policy for developing robust health infrastructure in the state to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Chief Minister Pema Khandu said on Monday.

The government has decided to utilize funds under North East Special Infrastructure Development (NESID) and North East Council for upgrading the states health sector, he said.

"A long-term policy for robust infrastructure and facilities for all 25 district hospitals in the state has been rolled out with proposed allocation of Rs 350 crore," Khandu told reporters in his office here.

He said Corona cases in the state is quite low with only three positive cases being reported and it was possible only because of the nodal officers appointed by the state government in various states of the country who took tremendous pain in taking all precautions for the stranded people by supplying them food items and essentials for which the spread of the virus was minimized.

"The government in order to tackle the pandemic has provided funds to all 26 deputy commissioners by providing an amount of Rs 12 lakh each from the state disaster response fund to deal with the situation. A separate fund of Rs 1.3 crore has been released from the chief minister relief fund (CMRF) to all the superintendent of police, he said. Khandu said the government had also released an amount of Rs 15 crore under the Mukhya Mantri Rogi Kalyan Kosh (MMRKK) to the districts besides reducing the salaries of all lawmakers by 30 per cent from April this year to March 2021. "The fund will go to the state exchequer and will be used in the fight against COVID-19," he said.

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The chief minister added that till Sunday a total of 8,282 samples were tested of which 7,015 tested negative while results of 1,263 are awaited. "As of date a total of 3,496 persons are in quarantine facilities while 7,968 are in home quarantine," Khandu said, adding, the government has decided to outsource sample testing by private parties to ease out the huge backlog. The chief minister said the state has made institutional quarantine mandatory for the returnees and after testing negative, they will have to go undergo compulsory home quarantine. "Our efforts are to detect positive cases in quarantine facilities so that the spread of the virus could be checked," the chief minister said.

He said, the government had already notified the Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Sciences at Naharlagun near here, and the North East Institute of Folk Medicine (NEIFM) at Pasighat in East Siang district as dedicated COVID-19 hospitals.

"The government has released Rs 5.20 crore from the CMRF for the people of the state who are stranded in other states because of the nationwide lockdown. The amount was released to assist 14,859 stranded people, which was credited directly to their bank accounts through direct bank transfer (DBT)," Khandu said.

The chief minister added that the government would soon recruit 150 staff nurses at district level besides installing 14 Truenat machines at Tawang, Bomdila, Naharlagun, Pasighat, Roing, Changlang, Khonsa, Daporijo and Ziro for sample testing.

"The government has also proposed procurement of 30 ambulances, MRI scan, CT scan and other 237 equipment for ten district hospitals under NESIDS besides, upgradation of infrastructure at 18 district hospitals and recruitment of 60 vacant posts of general duty medical officers (GDMOs) through Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) to strengthen the health sector," Khandu disclosed. He added that the government would soon equip all the check gates in the state with Truenat machines.