PANAJI
The Goa Medical College and Hospital has the wherewithal and is ready to test samples for the HMPV virus which has raised a scare of sorts, said a senior doctor even as Health Minister Vishwajit Rane chaired a meeting on Thursday to upgrade and expand the premier health facility's neonatal ICU.
"We are ready for testing samples for the HMPV virus from day two itself (Tuesday)," the doctor said.
Rane meanwhile has said that the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) capacity at the GMC will be enhanced from 13 to 30 beds.
Children and seniors, according to WHO are particularly susceptible to contracting the virus and most of the cases detected in India are kids.
The meeting chaired by Rane had doctors and officials of the Pediatric and Neonatal Resource Centre headed by Dr Vaishali and GMC Dean Dr Shivanand Bandekar attending.
Bureaucrats in the health ministry including Health Secretary Arun Kumar Mishra, IAS, additional health secretary Trupthi Manerkar, Under Secretaries Gautami Parmekar and Pooja Madkaikar and GMC's Director (Administration) Nathine Araujo also joined the meeting,
Taking to social media Rane said the effort is to ensure timely care and early interventions for children.
"We explored transformative steps to uplift child healthcare," Rane said, adding that the focus of the meeting was to expand NICU capacity at GMC from 15 to 30 beds.
