Mizoram government to treat infected security personnel, civilian patients at separate COVID-19 hospitals

The Mizoram government has decided to treat coronavirus-infected security personnel and civilian patients at separate COVID-19 hospitals in the state, an official said on Monday. The decision in this regard was taken during an emergency meeting chaired by Health Minister Dr R Lalthangliana on Sunday in the wake of a spike in COVID-19 cases among security personnel posted in the northeastern state, he said.

Officials observed it was not "medically healthy" to treat infected security personnel and civilian patients at the same hospital, he said. It was decided that the nursing school in Sercchip town will be reserved for infected Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, while jawans of other paramilitary and armed forces will be treated at the AYUSH Hospital at Thenzawl in Sercchip district and the Tribal Art Centre at Tanhril in Aizawl, he said.

Apart from these facilities, Assam Rifles has its own COVID-19 care centre at Zokhawsang near Aizawl. Civilian patients will be treated at the Beraw COVID- 19 care centre and the multipurpose centre at ITI locality in Aizawl, the official said. There are 64 beds for COVID-19 patients at the state- run Zoram Medical College here. It was also decided that guidelines will be framed for quarantining of security personnel, he said.

Mizoram had on Sunday reported its highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases as 55 more people, including 47 security personnel, tested positive for the infection. The fresh infections have taken the number of active cases in the state to 215. Security personnel and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) staffers constitute 76.74 per cent of the total number of active cases in the state.