Uttarakhand

• 06 Jul 2023

55 Hospitals of the state will get Anti-earthquake Armor

Why in News?

On July 5, 2023, in the meeting of the high-powered committee chaired by the Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand, Dr. S.S. Sandhu, it was told that under disaster management mitigation in the state, hospitals will be equipped with Anti-Seismic shields. In the first phase, 55 health centres have been selected.

Key Points:

• The equipping of hospitals with earthquake-resistant cover will start from 55 primary and community health centres (CHCs and PHCs) located in remote areas of mountainous areas. Under the construction of earthquake-resistant buildings, retrofitting of buildings of these 55 health centres will be done.
• Under the Uttarakhand Disaster Recovery Project (UDRP), the World Bank will spend Rs 38.78 crore for this.
• It is known that the proposal for the revival of old and dilapidated health centres in the state was submitted to the government by the Department of Medical Health and Family Welfare.
• A total of 150 such health centres have been selected in the state under the UDRP project. After that, 90 of these hospital buildings were selected in the process of classification. After this, now 55 health centres were selected under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Dr. SS Sandhu.
• Now these health centres will be retrofitted and given a completely new look. Where there is scope for improvement in old buildings, they will be repaired, new earthquake-resistant buildings will be built in the buildings which are in dilapidated condition.
• With the completion of this project, PHCs and CHCs, which have reached a dilapidated condition in the hilly areas, will be seen with a new look, which will help in strengthening the health services in the state.
• A total of 90 CHCs and PHCs have been selected for retrofitting in the state. Of these, 7 are in Almora, 4 in Bageshwar, 9 in Chamoli, 4 in Champawat, 8 in Dehradun, 7 in Haridwar, 12 in Pauri, 7 in Pithoragarh, 6 in Rudraprayag, 10 in Tehri, six in Udham Singh Nagar and 10 in Uttarkashi. Out of these, 55 health centers will be revived in the first phase.