Pema Khandu
Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu. (File photo)

The Arunachal Pradesh cabinet chaired by chief minister Pema Khandu on Friday approved upgradation of 18 district hospitals and construction of new ones at the state’s newly created districts for an estimated cost of Rs 365 crore.

The upgradation and construction will be funded by various funding windows of the Central government with an execution timeline of 24 months, the chief minister’s office said in a statement.

These projects shall be driven by an empowered committee headed by the Planning and Investment commissioner with chief engineer (planning) and deputy director (health) as members and executing agency concerned as special invitee, the statement said.

The cabinet during its sitting also decided to procure 10 Quottro and 4 duo Truenet machines along with adequate number of personal protection equipments and viral transport medium (VTM) kits for ramping up Covid-19 testing facilities in the state.

In order to mitigate the backlog of sample testing which the state is presently facing, the cabinet decided to outsource the same.

To increase the number of health professionals, especially doctors and nurses for core medical field duties, the cabinet approved to engage retired health professionals on contractual basis.

Appreciating the self-sufficiency plan of basic needs, the cabinet approved the proposal for development of 2000 nutritional kitchen gardens per legislative constituency.

The cabinet further decided for development of agriculture farm cluster per legislative constituency with minimum of 5 Ha land parcel upto 25 ha or even more.

The concerned MLAs and deputy commissioners of the districts will make the details of the project.

This was the third cabinet of the month to review the preparedness and mitigation plans for Covid-19 pandemic.

It was further decided to equip critical entry gates with in-situ testing facilities, especially for drivers of essential item vehicles.

Damien Lepcha is Northeast Now Correspondent in Arunachal Pradesh. He can be reached at: [email protected]