RTI activists ST Yapang Lkr and Tiawapang Lkr under the RTI Initiative Nagaland, who visited Dr. Imkongliba Memorial District Hospital (IMDH) Mokokchung to assess the COVID-19 preparedness in the district, have urged the responsible authority to increase the number of lifesaving equipment in the hospital ahead of the imminent arrival of third wave.
In a press release, the two RTI activists stated that there were only four ICU, four ventilators and 15 Oxymeters in the district hospital.
The duo claimed that as per RTI disclosure, an amount of Rs 2, 55,080 was allocated to combat COVID-19 in the district, which they said was “totally an unfair amount of allocation to a district hospital”.
The two RTI activists said that for the year 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, about Rs. 1,778 crore for various schemes and programmes was sanctioned for Nagaland by the ministry of health and family welfare.
Further, the duo urged the government to allocate in a year an amount of Rs. 50 lakh to a district hospital, Rs.10 lakh to CHC, Rs.3 lakh to PHC and Rs. 1 lakh to community sub-centres.
Claiming that there were other funds for hospital, the two activists further urged the government to permanently increase the number of ICU and ventilators in a district hospital to 10 each and five ICU and three ventilators in CHC.
They claimed that as per the information received, there were huge discrepancies in contrast to the massive funds poured into Nagaland by the Centre. For the year 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, they claimed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare sanctioned about Rs. 1,778 crores for Nagaland for various schemes and programmes.
The duo informed that more RTI initiatives would be initiated to assess whether the funds were implemented properly or not.