Nagaland to have 200-bed acute care hospital at Dimapur

The hospital is being set up at Christian Institute of Health Sciences and Research

In view of the emergent requirement of ICU and oxygen supported beds for Covid-19 patients, Nagaland will soon have a 200-bed acute care hospital at Dimapur.

The 200-bed acute care hospital is being set up at Christian Institute of Health Sciences and Research (CIHSR) Dimapur by the state government at a cost of Rs 30 crore.

"We are also in the process of setting up a 200-bed acute care facility at the CIHSR campus on a war footing," Health Minister S Pangnyu Phom told reporters here on Friday.

This will be a pre-engineered modern structure, which will continue to be used as a medical facility after we are done with Covid-19, he said, adding that this will be an additional asset to Dimapur and Nagaland.

Principal Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Department, Amardeep S Bhatia said the hospital is being created as the concept of a makeshift or field hospital was not considered suitable and a temporary facility could not be put to future use.

Accordingly, the proposal for a pre engineered hospital with the most modern acute care facilities has been considered and completed in a few weeks after obtaining the necessary approvals.

In view of the emergency, approvals for the hospital have been fast tracked by invoking provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, said Bhatia.

The decision to locate the hospital in the CIHSR was taken because of the availability of the land and to converge the human resources already available with CIHSR Dimapur, he said.

The hospital is a smart acute care hospital and the structure will be made of steel and tempered glass, he said.

The structure is not a "tentage" but the guaranteed life of the building shall be 20 years and can last much longer with proper care and maintenance, he said.

The initial proposal of the hospital was for 176 beds but it has been expanded to 200-beds by including a 24 bed Pediatric ICU ward.

This has been done keeping in view the predicted third wave that may affect children, he said.

Thus, the hospital will meet the immediate needs of the Covid-19 patients and would also function as a full- fledged acute care hospital to deliver high quality tertiary care post pandemic as well.

On the capacity of Covid-19 Hospitals in Nagaland, State Nodal Officer for Integrated Disease Surveillance Project, Dr Nyanthung Kikon said there are 378 non-oxygen beds, oxygen supported beds are 535 and total ICU beds are 101 across the state.

Bed occupancy as on June 3 is 29 per cent of oxygen supported beds and 28 per cent of ICU beds, he said.

Total beds in Covid Care Centers are 1,332 and occupancy is 14 per cent, he said.

Giving details of oxygen availability in the state, Dr Kikon said there are 1,931 D Type cylinders, 2,594 B Type, 512 A Type and 852 Oxygen Concentrators.

On Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) plants in the state, he said the plants are presently operational in Dimapur and Kohima, while installation is completed in Mokokchung and 8 more districts will soon be covered by PSA plants 6 from UNICEF and 2 from UNDP for which civil works are in progress.

One each 1000 litre per minute plants from Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Naga Hospital Authority Kohima and CIHSR Dimapur are in the pipeline, Dr Kikon informed.