CHANDIGARH: No Shortage of PPE kits, N95 masks and triple layer masks in Medical Colleges & Hospitals of Punjab said Principal Secretary, Medical Education & Research Mr. DK Tiwari. He said that the Punjab government has ensured an adequate supply of 2500 PPE kits, 25000 N95 masks and 7 lakhs triple layer masks in the medical colleges of the state along with buffer stocks of gloves, infra-red thermometers, sanitizers, hypochlorite solution, anti-viral drugs, paracetamol, antibiotics among other consumables.
Mr. Tiwari said that government medical colleges have equipped with a three-tiered patient care facility, first one being quarantine or isolation beds, then second line oxygen support ICU beds, thereafter the ventilator support beds. He said that the state protocols have been drawn up for each and every eventuality and patient handling starting from patient segregation, testing, diet, biomedical waste, and death protocols. He also said that replenishment of stocks is being done every second day as soon as the supplies are arriving in the central stores.
Underlining the purchasing powers given to Government Medical Colleges to fulfill the demand of essential items, he clarified that the hospitals have been granted enhanced purchasing powers for this emergency with amount of Rs. 4 crores in advance. Two testing centres at Patiala and Amritsar are already on the job with round the clock shifts and third one at Faridkot is already equipped awaiting sanction from ICMR. The government has already sent a request to ICMR for the rapid test kits.