A week after the Gaon Connection reported on the lack of adequate medical facilities to deal with the surge of COVID19 cases in Uttar Pradesh, the state administration set up a Coronavirus ward in Barabanki on May 13. It was inaugurated by BJP leader Upendra Singh Rawat, Member of Parliament, Barabanki. 

“A COVID ward in the hospital is now equipped with thirty beds with seven ventilators and all the facilities for the treatment of COVID19 patients,” YKS Chauhan, the chief medical officer (CMO), Barabanki, told Gaon Connection. Patients have begun to come in and their treatment has begun, he added. 

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According to the CMO, efforts are also underway to provide oxygen concentrators at the community health centres in the rural areas. 

Situated at a distance of 30 kilometres from the state capital Lucknow, Barabanki district has a population of around 3.2 million people. Despite this, till may 13, there were no government facilities in the district to treat COVID19 patients and they had to depend on the private hospitals or the hospitals in nearby Lucknow to get treated.

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Earlier, RP Singh, district general secretary of the State Employees Joint Council, and pharmacist at the district hospital had told Gaon Connection, “The Barabanki district hospital has no ventilators, but we are hoping that arrangements will be made very soon to procure them.” 

Meanwhile, deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya oversaw the supply of 80 new ventilators at Allahabad’s Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital on May 12. He interacted with the health officials at the hospital and took cognisance of the challenges faced in the treatment of COVID19 patients.

An oxygen plant is being set up in Mirzapur district that will be operational in a few days,  PD Gupta, the CMO of Mirzapur district informed Gaon Connection on May 13.  “We have received ten oxygen concentrators from the government, and an additional ten ventilators have been delivered as well,” Gupta said. “To operate these additional ventilators, we have requested the state government to appoint technicians as well, and that too will be provided as soon as possible,” he added. 

The Gaon Connection had also reported the lack of functional ventilators in other districts, and the shortage of   technicians to operate the ventilators that were operational. 

The Uttar Pradesh administration , on May 9, also put out a circular instructing the districts to appoint these technicians on priority. 

With inputs from Brijendra Dubey from Mirzapur