Shimla, May 24 (IANS): Setting the trend of together saving the lives amid the pandemic, Himachal Pradesh Health and Family Welfare Minister Rajiv Saizal is visiting Covid-19 patients who are in home isolation to provide each of them an isolation kit, encourage them to get vaccine and educate them against rumours on treatment.
On the first day on Sunday, Saizal visited 12 such patients in his Kasauli constituency in Solan district.
"Every day I am planning to visit the patients who are in home isolation. After attending the Cabinet meeting in Shimla today, I am visiting the other patients," Saizal, who himself is an ayurveda doctor, told IANS.
He said since March 1 a total of 550 people in the constituency contracted the coronavirus. Five of them died.
"I am also visiting the houses of those who have recovered from the virus. The purpose of visiting at doorstep is not only to restore their confidence that the government is standing with them but also to know about their welfare and livelihoods that has been severely impacted by the pandemic," he said.
Gulhari gram panchayat head Kamlesh Devi said family members of patients were surprised to see the minister at their doorstep. "The minister not only provided isolation kits to the family members of each of the patient but also apprised them how to contain the coronavirus."
Also the minister encouraged the visiting families to take vaccination, the only route out of this pandemic.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on May 22 launched home isolation kit and asked the legislators to provide them to Covid-19 patients at their doorstep.
Over 18 lakh tests have been conducted in the state and about 179,034 people had tested Covid-19 positive.
A total of 25,979 cases were active, while 2,752 people had lost their lives in the state till May 23.
The positivity rate in the state during the first phase was 5.53, whereas it has increased to 15.67 per cent in the second wave.
The bed capacity has been increased from 1,200 to about 5,000. Similarly the state has increased the storage capacity of oxygen by 25 metric tons.