New Delhi: As omicron As fear prevails in the country, the central government on Saturday asked states and union territories to set up temporary hospitals and constitute special teams to check the spread of the Covid-19 infection.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written to chief secretaries of all states and union territories on measures to deal with a possible surge in coronavirus cases.
“To address the potential escalation in cases, states are advised to initiate construction of field/temporary hospitals to enhance the availability of health infrastructure to ensure preparedness. This can be done in coordination with DRDO and CSIR as well as with private sector, corporations, NGOs etc. This will aid in the process of faster construction of field hospitals or temporary hospital set-ups,” Bhushan wrote in his letter.
“States may also consider availing hotel rooms and other accommodations attached to COVID dedicated hospitals in the government and private sector to cater to patients with mild to moderate symptoms of Covid-19, as has been the case in some states. Was done during the first bounce. ” she added.
Describing a large number of positive cases worthy of home isolation, Bhushan said: “These cases will require effective follow-up and a clearly defined mechanism for immediate transfer to a health facility in case of deterioration in their health condition.” “
The Union Health Secretary said that it is especially important that all the states monitor their home isolation protocol and its actual implementation at the field level.
He said, “Special teams should be formed to monitor all home isolation cases, assist call centres/control rooms in making outbound calls to monitor such patients and ensure that all such cases are dedicated be transferred to a suitable health facility through an ambulance,” he said.
Bhushan said that all the states should ensure that the control rooms at the district level or sub-district/ward level are functional.
“There is a need to put in place a clearly defined mechanism for access to tests, ambulances and hospital beds and communicate to the public at large. A mechanism in which citizens can call and receive ambulances and beds need to be made operational in a transparent manner. Dashboards/portals at the call centre, district or state level can play a vital role in conducting this.
The Union Health Secretary further said that the States are also requested to ensure that the existing COVID dedicated health infrastructure is modified and necessary action is taken to ensure its operational readiness.
Emphasizing on the implementation of containment activities at the field level to contain the spread of infection, Bhushan said: “The need for effective contact tracing will be taken up with the quarantine of contacts including facility quarantine for high risk and comrade contacts.”
“Adequate number of quarantine facilities will be planned across the state,” he said.
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