Worried that children may be more susceptible to the Omicron variant of Covid-19, Congress leader in the Assembly, Ampareen Lyngdoh, has called on the state government to upgrade the paediatric wards in hospitals and healthcare facilities in Meghalaya.
“Our paediatric wards and paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) are not ready (for a third wave),” Lyngdoh told Highland Post. “The government should form and engage a working group from all political parties in health institutions and MLAs who are fully vaccinated against Covid should volunteer to help the government to organize hospitals, particularly the paediatric wards, to ensure our preparedness in the fight against this virus.”
Asserting that Meghalaya was not ready when the second wave of the pandemic hit the state last year, she welcomed the swift decision of the government in announcing preemptive restrictions from January 5.
However, the East Shillong MLA felt the restrictions did not go far enough. On the odd-even regime to be re-imposed on private vehicles, she felt that the rule should also apply to government (ML01) cars and that limits on shops should also be put in place.
