A team deputed by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has made some key findings & recommendations for the UT after analysing the current pandemic situation in the city.
Intermingling of positive cases amongst other patients
The team visited the government hospitals in the city and observed that testing at the PGI had resulted in mixing of positive and negative cases in the Emergency. The team suggested conducting rapid antigen testing in emergency too.
Increase testing capacity
The team highlighted problems in testing in UT, especially in the south zone, which has the maximum number of cases and containment zones.
To address the issues, the team asked GMCH 32 to increase its testing capacity.
Delayed Test Result Report
The team suggested that the families of all COVID positive patients should be contacted by doctors within 24 hours to segregate the patients from their family members.
Besides this, it recommended immediate testing of symptomatic contacts & timely communication of COVID positive cases.
Single contact tracing team
Keeping in view the duplication of work in contact tracing by the UT Health Department & the Municipal Corporation, the team suggested only one contact-tracing team for every 20 to 25 active cases.
Be prepared to increase beds
The team said the GMCH and the PGIMER should be prepared to handle a spike in COVID cases by increasing the number of beds.
Besides this, it highlighted the need for better coordination among the three main government hospitals in the UT.
Focus on non- COVID critical patients
The central team directed the UT Administration to also focus on non-Covid critical patients.
During a virtual meeting, Union Home Secretary Shri Ajay Bhalla asked senior UT officials to step up efforts to keep the Covid mortality rate low.
Source: The Tribune
Image Credits: Google Images
