‘No serious adverse effects due to COVID vaccinations in Nagaland’

Our Correspondent
Kohima | August 5

Minister for Health and Family Welfare, S Pangnyu Phom made a statement on COVID-19 pandemic at the 8th session of 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly on August 5. The Minister said that no serious adverse effects due to COVID-19 vaccination have been reported in the state. “Our intensive mobilization drives, jointly with the faith-based organizations, civil society organizations, village authorities and other Government agencies have helped reduce the vaccine hesitancy,” he said.

Despite presence of more virulent variant of the virus which has caused hundreds of deaths during the second wave. “Out of 463 Covid deaths as on 30th July 2021, we have only 2 cases on record in the State who died 2 weeks after the 2nd dose vaccination,” he  and added that this highlights the importance of vaccination in preventing infection and development of serious illness.

Stating that the virus has not gone away and can rear its ugly head anytime again and we need to be cautious and not lower our guard, he said “We have to be prepared for the third wave. While we will continue to work to cover our entire population with vaccination which is the most effective weapon against the virus, we have also proceeded to prepare for the third wave.”

The state government took a number of timely steps to responds against the second wave and meeting the new challenges it threw at the healthcare delivery system, he told the house while stressing on the need to continue to work together to ensure in addressing the challenges of pandemic in the state.

Earlier, the Minister said that two waves of COVID-19 pandemic have hit the State. The first wave required urgent measures in the form of imposition of lockdowns to curtail the spread of virus and take steps to strengthen the healthcare systems. “We had taken steps by strengthening our testing facilities, creating posts and recruiting healthcare professionals in an expeditious manner. District hospitals not having functional ICUS were provided with requisite infrastructure and critical care equipment. Ambulances were also provided to the districts. To modernize the supply chain management supported by a robust IT platform, the department set up a State Warehouse at Kohima,” he said.

He said government took a number of timely steps to respond against the second wave and meeting the new challenges it threw at the healthcare delivery system. To meet the increased hospitalization, the department ramped up the bed strength, which was 805 with 608 beds without oxygen support, 68 beds with oxygen support, 68 ICU beds without ventilators and 61 ICU beds with ventilators before the second wave to 1153 beds with 296 beds without oxygen support, 669 beds with oxygen support, 99 ICU beds without ventilators and 89 ICU beds with ventilators respectively.

“We are also building a 200 bedded hospital, with 24 paediatric beds, for acute medical care in CIHSR Dimapur which is likely to get operational by September. This hospital, should there be a third wave of COVID-19 pandemic, will be immensely useful,” he added. 

He stated that the government procured oxygen cylinders and has nearly 6000 cylinders of various capacities as compared to 1417 cylinders at the beginning of the pandemic last year. The total capacity of oxygen that can be stored in these cylinders is more than 17.5 Metric Ton. In addition, PSA Oxygen Generation Plants along with oxygen piping and generator backup have been installed at Kohima, Dimapur, Mokokchung, Tuensang and Phek to ensure availability of bedside oxygen, he said.

Furthermore, out of 688 ventilators, 239 have been distributed to various health facilities including private hospitals. Besides the 3 BSL laboratories, we have also established 25 TrueNat and 362 Rapid Antigen Testing facilities for COVID-19 across the State. Since May 2020 to 31st July 2021, we have done a total of 2,63,703 tests, the Minister said.