Providing best healthcare facilities to people is priority for state government: CM

Ranchi: Stating that even a minor negligence in the health sector can prove to be fatal Chief Minister Hemant Soren said that his government was committed to provide best healthcare facilities to the people of Jharkhand.

Speaking after inaugurating the virology and Covid-19 diagnostic lab at Palamu Medical College via online mode he said that since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic the state government had started working seriously over the issue. He said that initially the state was dependent on other states to get the Covid tests done but soon three test centres were started in the state. He said that on a war footing level tests have to be done and as part of that a bio safety level laboratory has been set up in Palamu which would be a milestone for the people of the area.

He said that soon a modern laboratory to conduct Covid-19 tests would be inaugurated in Santhal Pargana for which all preparations have been completed. He said that the government is working its best to provide all the needed healthcare facilities to the people of the state. The Chief Minister said that currently load on RIMS was more for conducting the tests but as soon as the labs would be expanded the people would get reports in their respective areas and will not have to depend on RIMS.

He said that currently the state government has made arrangements to conduct the tests through truenet machines and was committed to set up these machines at the block level. He said that despite the lockdown establishing the lab in Palamu was a big challenge but now it has been handed over to the PMCH.

The Chief Minister said that to start a Covid test lab permission has to be taken at various levels and the government was trying its best to set up the labs as per the guidelines. He said that at present there was no medicine or vaccine for Coronavirus therefore the only way to prevent the disease was adopting precautions and maintaining social distancing.

He said that after the new government came into power it was soon engulfed in the Coronavirus crisis which was a major challenge. He said that despite the limited resources the government was doing its best to keep an eye on the situation and compared to the other states Jharkhand was in a better position due to the awareness and better management of the state government.

Those who were also present on the occasion included Health Minister Banna Gupta, Chief Secretary Sukhdeo Singh, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Rajeev Arun Ekka and Principal Secretary Health Nitin Madan Kulkarni.