Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Sept 23: The Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta today chaired a meeting to review the preparations being put in place to mitigate the COVID situation in Jammu and Kashmir through extensive COVID related trainings. So far, Jammu and Kashmir has vaccinated 77% of its eligible population by administering over 1 crore doses without any reported case of severe complications.
Additional Chief Secretary, Health & Medical Education, Commissioner/ Secretary GAD, CEO Ayushman Bharat, Mission Director, National Health Mission (NHM), Director Family Welfare, along with concerned officers participated in the meeting.
It was informed that to contain the COVID spread and mitigate the disease, Jammu and Kashmir has adopted a robust mechanism for proper training of associated manpower based on operational guidelines of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. Extensive trainings on core principles of infection prevention; donning and doffing of PPE kits; surface disinfection; vaccination protocols; vaccination for pregnant and lactating mothers; and bio-medical waste management have been imparted to the health care professionals in a phased manner.
So far, 7,262 vaccinators and medical officers have been trained through 203 training sessions held across the Union territory. Additionally, various refresher trainings, online portal trainings, eVINAE cascade trainings, and bridge trainings have been organized to purposefully train the Chief Medical Officers, vaccinators, cold chain handlers, ANMs, ASHA workers, and other block-level healthcare workers.
Special emphasis has been laid to train the healthcare professionals particularly in home isolation tracking, micro containment zone testing and surveillance, symptomatic identification, subsequent referral to higher medical facilities, and operationalization of Panchayat-level COVID care centres.
Further, the Health Department also organized various trainings on oxygen consumption and management for ICU staff, besides imparting training to hospital-level technicians to suitably operate various oxygen generation plants.
The Chief Secretary mentioned the vulnerability of children to COVID infection and urged the Department to roll out suitable training modules for medical and paramedical staff to optimally manage pediatric wards and ICUs, besides developing Divisional Pediatric Centre of Excellence both at GMC Jammu and Srinagar.
Additionally, the National Health Mission was asked to continue with the COVID-dedicated IEC campaign to generate mass awareness on various preventive measures and COVID Appropriate Behaviour.
Meanwhile, Dr Mehta chaired a meeting to review the progress registered under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) in Jammu and Kashmir.
Bipul Pathak, Principal Secretary Rural Development Department, Tariq Hussain Ganai, Mission Director, Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen), Kishore Singh Chib, Director, Rural Development, Jammu, and Tariq Ahmad Zargar, Director, Rural Development, Kashmir along with concerned officers participated in the meeting.
The Chief Secretary directed the Department to immediately constitute village-level sanitation committees which shall develop respective sanitation plans by 31st October, 2021. The Department was asked to implement sanitation plans in convergence with the MGNREGA scheme to develop infrastructure for scientific solid waste management and associated biogas generation.
Dr. Mehta urged the Rural Development Department to evolve a mechanism to ensure convergence between village-level sanitation committees and paani samitees for grey water management and treatment of waste water. Besides, the Department was also asked to undertake extensive IEC campaign to promote various sanitation techniques and bring about a positive behavioural change.
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