Manipur Health Minister Dr Sapam Ranjan on Tuesday said that the government will activate the 200-bed dedicated COVID Hospital at Kiyamgei if the need arises. The hospital was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 4 this year.
The minister’s statement came in the wake of the rising number of COVID-19 positive cases in the state.
The state on Monday reported 605 COVID-19 active cases.
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In his reply to an unstarred question by opposition MLA Surjakumar Okram on the second sitting of the ongoing full budget session of 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly, the minister said that the state has adequate number of Covid beds, both general and ICU in the existing hospitals and covid care centres to manage the existing number of Covid active cases.
However, if the number of active cases increase beyond the capacity of existing Covid facilities, the government will make the hospital operative, he said.
He went on to say that the state government is monitoring Covid scenario in the state, neighbouring states and the rest of the country to assess the likely Covid scenario.
Meanwhile, in his reply to one starred question by the opposition MLA asking whether there are pending wages/ honorarium/ remuneration for the Covid warriors engaged on daily wage/ contract basis, the health minister said that payment of honorarium has been cleared till December 31, 2021.
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He assured that the payment of pending remuneration/ wages for the period from January 1, 2022 to March 16, 2022 will be cleared as soon as the finance department completed generation of specific identification numbers for the staff.
He further said that the state government has taken major steps like increasing surveillance and testing, firming up supply chain management of essential drugs, protective equipment and testing kits, intensifying Covid vaccination drive, closure of schools among others to tackle the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the state.
Meanwhile, Works Minister Govindas Konthoujam, while replying to a starred question by MLA Ram Muivah, said that non-availability of land is hindering the construction work of NH-102 A.
The MLA pointed out that the national highway is one of the most significant highways connecting four districts. However, even after eight years of its upgradation from a state highway to a national highway, only ordinary repair has been done and actual construction has not been started yet, he said.
To this, the minister said that a fixed timeline cannot be given as to when the survey and sanction will be done since the people do not come forward in the land acquisition process.
