Cyclone Tauktae: Gujarat hospitals get power back-up, 35 green corridors for oxygen supply

The Gujarat Medical Education Research Society (GMERS) Sola in Ahmedabad has allocated and provisioned two wards with a capacity of 40 beds separately at its trauma centre, to treat cyclone-affected persons, if need be.

The Vadodara district administration shifted 190 Covid-19 patients from two extended facilities in the city that could face an impact due to the rough weather conditions.

At least 160 patients from the Yagnapurush Covid-19 facility at BAPS Swaminarayan temple in Atladara were shifted to the facility in Samras Hostel and Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society (GMERS)-run Gotri Covid hospital on Monday, while 30 patients from the dome facility within the premises of Gotri hospital were shifted to the main building.

Officer on Special Duty Vinod Rao told this newspaper, “Patients were shifted as the winds are turning stronger and there is no reason to take any chance when there are beds available…”

Relatives of Covid patients at Samras and SSG hospital, who were put up inside a dome-like structure were shifted to the polytechnic hostel building and the psychiatry ward, respectively. Rao added that in view of the threat posed by the cyclone to the oxygen-supplying districts of Bhavnagar and Jamnagar, the administration has created a “buffer stock”.

“We receive about 80 metric tonnes (MT) of oxygen from these two districts that are likely to be affected by the cyclone… we are prepared for the next couple of days with a buffer stock and alternative arrangements, if the supply is interrupted,” Rao said.

Rajesh Tanna, resident Additional Collector, Porbandar, told this newspaper that 13 critical Covid19 patients were shifted from the two government facilities in the district as a “precautionary measure”.

Tanna said, “We shifted five Covid-19 patients who needed ICU to Junagadh and eight to Jamnagar… The government facilities of about 150 beds and another of 100 beds are located within 500 metres from the seaside and are likely to face an impact of the storm surge… So we did not want to take any chances with critical patients, who need uninterrupted ICU equipment…”

Tanna added that close to 250 Covid patients are still undergoing treatment at the two government hospitals near the seaside. “About 150 are patients in the first facility and 100 in the additional facility… they are not in critical condition… and we are prepared to handle the impact of the cyclone,” Tanna said.