‘Novel virus needs novel interventions’
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Apr 23: Lieutenant Governor, GC Murmu today reviewed preparedness and arrangements for dealing with Coronavirus outbreak-directing divisional administration to reach out to masses, identify vulnerable age groups, besides augmenting robust healthcare facility on priority.
Speaking during a high level meeting at Raj Bhavan, Srinagar, the Lieutenant Governor said COVID-19 is a Novel Virus and it demanded novel interventions from the administration. He urged administration to work in close coordination and bring the mortality rate to its minimum.
“Fighting COVID-19 is a long-drawn-out battle. We all must gear up and fight it scientifically,” he said. “There shouldn’t be any lapse from the administration whatsoever, besides the concerned Deputy Commissioners should do profiling of the vulnerable areas and try to reach out to the affected people on priority,” he said.
Lauding Srinagar administration for putting robust mechanism in place for fighting COVID-19 outbreak and augmenting best possible infrastructure amid healthcare crisis, Murmu directed all the districts to ensure safety and security for the people-urging the concerned District Magistrates to lend all necessary and possible support to the needy people in their areas.
Murmu said that at a time when the administration was working round the clock for ensuring the welfare of the people, the people should cooperate with the administration and follow the health administrative advisories in letter in sprit to minimize the spread of the virus. He urged people to take special care of vulnerable age groups like elderly, children and people with existing illnesses. He reiterated that there would be no shortage of essential commodities or any service and asked people to maintain social distance as a precautionary measure to stop the spread of the virus.
“We are here for people to give our best. People shouldn’t suffer at any cost. They (people) shouldn’t panic and people must stay indoors till the time lockdown is in place,” he said.
Reviewing the arrangements for Kashmir division, the LG lauded the efforts of frontline health workers, security forces and the staff of essential services and appealed to the general public to complement the efforts of the Government and cooperate in breaking the chain.
Murmu urged the divisional administration to begin aggressive profiling of vulnerable age groups in the communities-saying that people above the age group of 60 should be profiled and their medical history tallied by a team of experts-which will minimize surge of COVID-19 positive cases across Jammu and Kashmir. He also assured the locals that all necessary measures are in place to prevent the spread of the infection; however they should cooperate and come forward for getting screened.
“Testing capacity should be accelerated and people above age group of 60 should be screened and if any healthcare issue is seen they should be immediately provided healthcare facilities,” he said. “There shouldn’t be any lapse from the health department on this,” he added.
Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Pandurang K Pole, in his detailed presentation gave overall view of the COVID-19 preparedness, saying that divisional administration was building robust capacities for contact tracing & sampling. He said that 8211 samples have been collected so far, besides 7410 contacts traced and 351 positive cases so far. He said that Pulwama is least affected district while as Bandipora has highest number of cases.
The Lieutenant Governor said that clear guidelines and SOP should be adopted to deal with Coronavirus-related biomedical waste. He directed concerned Deputy Commissioners to adopt guidelines for handling, treatment and safe disposal of biomedical waste generated during treatment, diagnosis and quarantine of patients confirmed or suspected to have the Novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). “There shouldn’t be any lapse in disposing off the biomedical waste. A proper scientific method should be adopted,” he said.
The Lieutenant Governor directed the administration, especially heads of the tertiary care healthcare institutions and Director Health Services, Kashmir, to protect the healthcare workers. He said that healthcare workers are at risk from handling Covid-19 patients and people in quarantine centres.
“You all have to make sure that all your staff are protected and there is no compromise on their safety,” he said. “They should be provided with every possible support and help from the administration and fully geared,” he added. He said that medical experts and specialists should send out warnings to the masses on mishandling of biomedical waste. He added that discarded masks, gloves and tissues could be potential sources for the spread of this highly contagious virus.
The meeting was attended by Advisors to Lieutenant Governor, Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar and Baseer Ahmad Khan, Chief Secretary, BVR Subhramanyam, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Pandurang K Pole, Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, Director, SKIMS, Dr AG Ahnagar, Principal, Government Medical College, Srinagar, Dr Saima Rashid, Director, Health Services, Kashmir, Sameer Mattoo, OSDs COVID Management, Aijaz Ahmad Khan, Vikas Kundal, Owais Ahmad, Joint Director, DIPR, Kashmir, Haris Handoo among other senior officers.
Meanwhile, Murmu called for expanding and up gradation of healthcare facilities across all Kashmir hospitals.
He stressed the need for up-gradation of facilities in hospitals and procurement of critical hospital equipment immediately so that all necessary facilities are available for treatment of COVID-19 patients.
The Lieutenant Governor asked the authorities to initiate the process of procurement immediately. He emphasized that lockdown period has given extra time to scale up response to COVID-19. “We should use this precious time to augment our capacities and purchase deficient equipment like ventilators, PPE,” he said. “Besides this, the bed capacity for COVID-19 patients’ needs to be enhanced in hospitals and the testing strategy should be targeted and expanded further,” he added.
The meeting was informed that tertiary care SKIMS, Soura has already placed orders for Automatic RNA Extractors which would ramp up the testing capacity at SKIMS from 1000 to 1500 tests per day. It was informed that said facility has also been ordered by SKIMS for Government Medical College, Srinagar.
On the occasion, the Chief Secretary said that the procurement of vital equipment would be decentralized so that the Heads of hospitals and district administration can go for immediate purchase of material and equipment required by them. He stated that funds shall be sanctioned and placed at their disposal immediately to facilitate quick purchase of medical equipment.
The Lieutenant Governor also called upon heads of medical institutions to manage COVID-19 patients with co-morbidities at an early stage and treat them in hospitals so that mortality remains low. He also emphasized that doctors and health workers be provided adequate protective equipment to protect this human resource in our fight against Coronavirus as J&K has limited capacity of expert COVID health care professionals. He said that hospital workers need to be given proper training in use and disposal of their protective gear. He also asked heads of Health Institutions to ensure proper disposal of hospital waste in and around hospitals.
The Lieutenant Governor said that there has to be more awareness among common people regarding use of masks and its repeated use. He addedthat downloading of Aarogya Setu App would help people to connect to essential health services and help the citizens to identify their risk of contracting COVID-19.
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