Chhattisgarh CM inaugurates 'Oxygen on Wheels' & food distribution service for Raipur city

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel Saturday inaugurated the mobile oxygen facility dubbed as ‘Oxygen on Wheels’, an ambulance service and food distribution scheme under the Raipur Municipal Corporation to help tackle the COVID-19 health crisis in the state. In an official statement, obtained by ANI, Baghel said that the Raipur municipal corporation mobile oxygen service, one of the main among the three newly re-launched services, will conduct home delivery of oxygen concentrator for patients in dire need suffering from low oxygen saturation due to coronavirus.

The cost-free ambulance service, meanwhile, will help commute patients from the home to the hospital at the time of the emergency wherein the patient needs hospital intervention as their health deteriorated. The free dry ration distribution would help feed the hungry families during the hardship when businesses are shuttered due to the restrictions. 

In his address, the Chief Minister said that Raipur Municipal Corporation has been working tirelessly round the clock to provide the necessary facilities to the civilians to overcome the hardships during the pandemic. In order to alleviate the shortage of beds, and save more lives, the administration converted an indoor stadium into a makeshift COVID-19 hospital to be able to provide more patients with healthcare despite the mounting caseload. Baghel added that the initiative of the “doorstep delivery of oxygen concentrators” in the state would prove extremely beneficial for the COVID-19 patients, who otherwise will have to struggle to incase the hospital capacity runs out.

Separately, the free doorstep delivery of oxygen support will also have a dedicated home isolation assistance team that will monitor recovery of such patients. When the oxygen levels go back up to the normal, the team will then collect the concentrators back and put it in use for those in need elsewhere. 

Statewide food grain distribution service

To avoid families of the daily wagers sleeping hungry, Baghel said that the municipal corporation had arranged the statewide food grain distribution service. At least seven thousand packets of dry ration were loaded on the trucks to be distributed to the poor families amid the lockdown, the Chief Minister stated. He said that the ration would be handed over to the needy free of cost by the Raipur Municipal Corporation jurisdiction, who collaborated efforts with local councillors and zone officers. The well-equipped ambulance service to ensure that the COVID patients in need get timely medical treatment, the minister said in a statement.