‘Scale up vaccination, maximize testing’
Excelsior Correspondent
Jammu, May 21: Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha today chaired a series of meetings with COVID Task Force, Deputy Commissioners and SPs from across the UT, in which important decisions were taken to strengthen the COVID containment efforts in J&K.
The Lt Governor is keeping a close watch on the Covid containment measures being undertaken by the district administrations across the UT.
“Protect and save precious lives by discharging your duties with determination, dedication and greater responsibility. Put in your best efforts and work round-the-clock to ensure the availability of all the necessary medicare facilities, besides laying a strong rapid response mechanism in all districts in order to deal with the emerging situation”, Sinha asked the officers.
Rate of vaccination & testing, effective management of Covid Care Centres will be the parameters for monitoring performance of the officers, maintained the Lt Governor.
Taking cognizance of the low vaccination rate in some districts, the Lt Governor passed strict directions to the DCs for scaling-up the vaccination in their respective districts.
“Maximize the testing for areas with high positivity rate. Fix vaccination & testing targets for Tehsildars and BDOs. Share good practices and take comprehensive measures to bring down the covid positivity rate across the districts, besides tracking the trend on daily basis”, the Lt Governor directed the DCs.
The DCs were asked to prepare a futuristic plan to contain the spread of the deadly virus. Take prompt action on covid related issues and regularly brief the media providing factual and accurate information to the public, ahe dded.
Emphasizing on regulating the movement of people during the restrictions, Sinha directed the Divisional Commissioners and DCs to streamline the process of issuance of passes.
While reviewing the district-wise status of preparations being made to contain the spread of Corona-Virus in rural areas, the Lt Governor set timelines for establishment of 5-bedded Covid Care Centres at Panchayat level across J&K.
He directed for prioritizing far flung areas for establishing these centres, besides ensuring availability of all requisite facilities for the patients including proper ventilation, beds, oxygen support, necessary medical kits, linkage with nearest healthcare centres, referral linkage with dedicated Covid health centres & hospitals, availability of tele-medicine facilities, power backup and other basic facilities.
“We are decentralizing the Covid management, which is essential for effective and efficient public health system. Focus on strengthening primary health care in rural areas. There is a need to increase the availability and accessibility of healthcare support system in far flung areas,” Sinha said.
He instructed the Principal Secretary, Rural Development Department to lay a comprehensive mechanism for monitoring the operationalization of Covid care centres in Panchayats.
He laid stress on proper training of ASHA and Anganwadi workers, besides mobilizing PRIs & volunteers and utilizing SDRF funds for effective management of Covid care centres at Panchayat level. Health department was directed to proactively engage in functioning of these Covid care facilities.
“Community health workers ASHA/ANMs are the foundation of health services. Panchayat Covid Centre to help people adopt Covid protocol. The need for hospital services can be reduced with effective implementation of preventive and promotive protocols by the community health workers,” the Lt Governor observed.
He further underlined the need for spreading massive awareness in villages regarding oxygen saturation level and educating the people on when to seek medical attention.
Reiterating the directions issued in earlier meetings, Sinha called for ensuring timely payments under MGNREGA, and continuous extension of benefits of various beneficiary oriented schemes. He further asked the Rural Development and Social Welfare Departments to put a close monitoring on the implementation of welfare measures like special pension for life and scholarships for children being taken by the Government to help those who unfortunately lost their loved ones to COVID -19.
On the development front, the Lt Governor directed the DCs for early submission of the District Plans. The District Plan must reflect the participation of all stakeholders, besides replicating the developmental aspirations of the people, he added.
Atal Dulloo, Financial Commissioner, Health & Medical Education Department gave a detailed overview about the status of Oxygen generation and supply, bed occupancy in hospitals, containment activities, status of vaccination drive under different age groups, district-wise daily and weekly trends of COVID-19 cases, positivity rate, recovery rate etc.
Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to Lt Governor; BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Dilbag Singh, DGP; Arun Kumar Mehta, Financial Commissioner, Finance Department; Shaleen Kabra, Principal Secretary to the Government, Home Department; Bipul Pathak, Principal Secretary to Government, Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj; Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary, Power Development Department & Information Department; Shailendra Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Government, Public Works (R&B) Department; Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Lt Governor; Ranjan Prakash Thakur, Principal Secretary to the Government, Industries & Commerce; Mukesh Singh, ADGP; Pandurang K Pole, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir; Sheetal Nanda, Secretary to the Government, Social Welfare Department; Vijay Kumar, IGP Kashmir; Dr. Raghav Langer, Divisional Commissioner Jammu; Choudhary Mohammad Yasin, Mission Director, NHM; Deputy Commissioners and SPs, attended the meeting, in person and through virtual mode.
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