Bengaluru: A tribal district in Maharashtra – Nandurbar – is hitting the headlines with its ability to manage the covid crisis. 

The small village has been extremely successful in giving oxygen to the covid affected. 

It has appointed oxygen nurses so that there is optimum use of the gas and no one actually gets cheated. 

Taking a cue from it, the Maharashtra health minister has appointed oxygen nurses across the state. 

India Today notes that Nandurbar’s district collector Rajendra Bharud, is the one behind it.  A nurse is appointed to take of 50 beds. She is in-charge of the oxygen cylinders. 

She checks the saturation level of the oxygen and takes the necessary action. 

"If any patient took off their oxygen mask, the nurse would insist that they wear it. If the patient's condition was improving and their oxygen level increasing, the nurse would reduce the flow of oxygen from the cylinder. If the patient's oxygen level was decreasing, the nurse would increase flow from the cylinder. This ensured continuous monitoring of oxygen," the DC said. 

The DC himself has studied medicine and was ready to the task of taking care of the oxygen needs. 

So way back in September, he decided to set up an oxygen plant. Later, that is earlier this year, he set up 2 other oxygen plants. 

You might be surprised to note that the district is self-sufficient in relation to oxygen and is even supplying the vital gas to other parts of the state. 

It is not just about oxygen. The DC has also put in place an effective mechanism to deal with the availability of doctors. 

"We had only two MD doctors for a population of 20 lakh. So, we had to request all private hospitals and clinics to open up and start treating people. Since we had only two doctors, they were heavily burdened because they had to treat patients with Covid-19 as well as non-Covid patients. We appealed to our juniors and batchmates and got doctors from Mumbai and Pune to come here and help us," he added.