DRDO’s Covid hospital to be restarted in city

Varanasi: With a sudden, sharp rise in Covid-19 cases in the Varanasi and neighbouring districts in the past few days, officials have started making arrangements to tackle the pandemic and have even contacted the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to restart its temporary Covid-19 hospital in the city.
Divisional commissioner Deepak Agrawal said, “The Covid-19 situation is still under control and there is no need for panic.But, as the figures of Covid-19 cases have started increasing in Varanasi and surrounding districts, we have intensified the efforts for reviving all arrangements which had helped in tackling the second wave.
Apart from ensuring Covid-19 facilities, the DRDO officials have also been contacted to operationalise the temporary Covid hospital with ICU facilities at the amphitheatre of Banaras Hindu University as a precautionary measure. The DRDO’s team will be in the city by Tuesday.”
The 500-bed DRDO temporary hospital — which was named Pandit Rajan Mishra Covid Hospital — was started for Covid patients at the amphitheater ground in May 2021 to meet the increased demand of the requirement of ICU beds as many critical Covid-19 patients needed level-2 and level-3 facilities. The Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) specialists, doctors, nursing and other medical staff, had been moved from across the country on a war footing to run the hospital in coordination with BHU and the civil administration. This facility of DRDO was closed after June 16, 2021, after the requirement of level-3 facilities decreased.
Another major focus of the officials is vaccination. The commissioner said, “The Covid-19 vaccine first dose coverage in Varanasi district is 95% while the average of four districts in the division is 80%. Now, focus is on mobilising people ,who have taken first dose, to get their second dose also.”
The head of the Multidisciplinary Research Unit (MRU) of the Anatomy department of the Institute of Medical Sciences of BHU (IMS-BHU) Prof Royana Singh said, “The developments in the past 4-5 days are sufficient to increase worries as apart from Varanasi, Covid-19 cases are also increasing in Ghazipur and Chandauli. So far, no case of the new Omicron variant has been detected in this region. We will start genome sequencing for Omicron confirmation after collection of sufficient samples as this process is costly and additional lab technicians are required for it.”
She said that instead of creating panic, people need to ensure safety by taking all precautions like wearing masks, sanitising hands, maintaining social distancing and consulting doctor immediately in case of noticing any symptom as these are the ways to check the spread of this pandemic and nipping the problem in the bud.