Srinagar: Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha today lauded the unwavering efforts shown by the Health Workers and Frontline Corona Warriors for the significant role played by them in the containment and management of COVID-19 pandemic in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
“To acknowledge the crucial role COVID Warriors are playing in fight against the deadly virus, the JK Government is considering to provide additional support to them, in addition to the existing insurance cover of Rs 50 lakhs”, he observed.
The Lt Governor was chairing a meeting to review the effective measures undertaken by the UT Government and various aspects related to COVID-19 control efforts in J&K.
Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to Lieutenant Governor; Sh. BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary and Atal Dulloo, Financial Commissioner Health and Medical Education attended the meeting.
The Lt Governor advised the concerned officers to involve religious leaders and distinguished personalities to spread awareness regarding importance of wearing face masks, social distancing and adherence to guidelines and advisories related to the prevention of COVID-19.
Stressing on strict enforcement of preventive measures, the Lt Governor asked the concerned to ensure thorough implementation of all SOP’s being issued by Central and the UT Government for preventive management of the COVID-19 situation, especially wearing of face masks.
Taking note of rise in cases in Kashmir Division, the Lt Governor directed for laying special focus on Districts with high infection rate, like Srinagar, Baramulla and Pulwama to mitigate the spread of the deadly virus.
He further called for taking effective measures to reduce the mortality rate, besides ensuring Oxygen availability to ensure the safety of patients amid the crisis.
The Lt Governor called for 100% coverage of Aarogya setu app, and regular quality check of the facilities available in quarantine and isolation centres for comprehensive and seamless management of the COVID-19 situation.
Briefing about the preparedness for COVID-19 in J&K, Financial Commissioner Health and Medical Education, Atal Dulloo informed the Lt Governor that Rapid Antigen Test is being conducted with 18,000 tests done in the last 5 days. 432 Ventilators received from Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India are in the process of installation in various health institutions and 342 ventilators are in transit.
He informed that there are around 7,260 active positive cases out of 23,927 confirmed positive cases in J&K with a recovery rate of 67.78 percent and 56,707 Tests per Million population.
It was informed that the samples of 2,95,878 number of travellers, 83,016 persons in contact and 8,621 health care workers have been taken so far. Age wise trend of COVID related deaths was also briefed. 6,95,620 COVID tests have been performed in the UT of J&K and Testing capacity has increased from 249 tests on 11th April, 2020 to 8,812 tests done on 7th August, 2020 and is likely to increase further in next few days.
J&K is doing on an average 800 tests per million population per day which is far better than WHO recommended 140 tests per million population per day. Four CBNAAT (Cartridge Based Nucleic Acid Amplification Test) have been made functional, besides 15 TRUENAT labs were installed and rtPCR machines have also been pressed into service to enhance COVID-19 testing, it was informed.
Deliberations were also held on various important aspects, including procurement of protective gears; increasing the testing capacity; IEC activities; awareness on COVID-19; Surveillance, Sampling, Patient Care & Counseling, Hospital Management, Integrated COVID Response and Red Zone Management.
Meanwhile, to get first hand appraisal of the facilities available for the COVID and Non-COVID patients, the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha today paid a visit to the SMHS Hospital.
He was accompanied by Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to Lieutenant Governor; BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Atal Dulloo, Financial Commissioner Health and Medical Education; Pandurang K. Pole, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir; Vijay Kumar, IGP Kashmir; Dr Samia Rashid, Principal, Government Medical College, Srinagar and other senior officers.
The Lt Governor took round of various sections of the hospital including Emergency, Indoor wards and other sections wherein he interacted with doctors and paramedical staff of the hospital and took stock of the interventions made by the hospital administration while dealing with the ongoing pandemic COVID-19 as well the Non-COVID patient care.
He enquired about the healthcare facilities and available infrastructure including necessary life-saving equipments like availability of isolation beds, ventilators, oxygen supply and other machinery required for treatment.
The Lt Governor directed the Health functionaries for maintaining proper care and hygiene, besides following all the SOP’s while dealing with the patients.
He observed that the Non-COVID patients also require necessary attention, besides isolated and segregated facilities should also be maintained along with adherence to the precautionary protocol during their treatment.
On being informed about the shortage of Nursing Orderlies for the patient care, he advised for making temporary arrangements for the NOs for six months, meanwhile refer the said posts for filling up the vacancies. He was informed that 200 nurses are also being hired to meet the shortage of staff.
The Lt Governor asked the Hospital Administration to allow the attendants of the patients only as per the SOP’s. He also enquired about the well-being of the staff looking after the COVID ward and interacted with the patients and their attendants.
Taking note of the possibility of shortage of Oxygen supply in future, he directed for making the necessary provisions for ensuring the uninterrupted oxygen supply well in advance.
Lauding the valuable work being done by the COVID Warriors, the Lt Governor stressed on taking all requisite measures to ensure the safety of doctors and paramedics who are directly dealing with COVID positive patients.
He called for bringing more improvement in the functioning of the hospitals for ensuring best healthcare facilities to the patients to make health care system of J&K best in the country.
