Centre to monitor Jammu COVID situation on daily basis: Dr Jitendra

Oxygen Concentrate for Home Quarantine patients

STATE TIMES NEWS
NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over Jammu having earned the dubious distinction of recording one of the lowest COVID recovery rate of 43 per cent in the country, Union minister Dr Jitendra Singh announced on Saturday that Centre will monitor Jammu COVID situation on daily basis and the Central team of experts will remain in touch with medical professionals in Jammu on day-to-day basis, apart from providing regular tele-consultation facility from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, till such time as the pandemic situation improves in the region.

Two-member Central team reviews COVID control measures in Jammu region

Jammu: A two-member team from the Union Health Ministry on Saturday visited different hospitals here to review COVID-19 control measures following a spurt in the cases over the past few weeks, officials said.
The high-level team headed by Director of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi, S K Singh along with Joint Director Tanzin visited various hospitals in Jammu and Udhampur districts and held a detailed discussion with the officials concerned over the prevailing COVID-19 situation, they said. We have come to see the functioning of COVID dedicated hospitals and how to make these institutions better to face the challenge posed by the disease, Singh said after meeting Principal Nasib Chand Digra and other faculty members of the Government Medical College (GMC) hospital here.
He said they have taken cognisance of the issues raised during the meeting and would take up these with the central government to ensure necessary help to control the pandemic.
We discussed the prevailing trend and the mortality during the past one month besides availability of oxygen, the beds in Intensive care units and other facilities being provided to the patients, he said.
Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday recorded 1,492 new COVID-19 cases, raising the tally to 62,533, while 21 fatalities pushed the death toll to 987 — 223 in Jammu region and 764 in the Kashmir valley.
An official spokesman said the team visited district hospital Udhampur where Chief Medical Officer Dr K C Dogra gave a powerpoint presentation on the COVID-19 scenario and briefed the team about the steps taken up to contain the spread of the virus in the district.
The team inquired about the trend of transmission and procedure for containment, isolation ward, contact tracing of infected persons besides the mortality rate in the district and nature of COVID-19 cases, he said.
He said the team members stressed upon the health department to evolve an effective containment strategy for early detection of COVID-19 cases for controlling its spread.
They asked the district health authorities to take necessary steps to adopt strategies to control the infections in villages, the spokesman said, adding the team advised for 100 percent testing of symptomatic people and aggressive testing at public health centres for effective containment of COVID-19.
Later, the team, along with Additional Deputy Commissioner, Nagendra Singh Jamwal and health department officials visited the containment area and inspected the process of ongoing COVID-19 testing, interacted with frontline workers and discussed in detail the whole process of contact tracing, following of SOPs and Isolation of patients at home, the spokesman said.
The team also visited home isolated patients, he said.

During a meeting convened to review the alarming COVID situation in Jammu region, Dr Jitendra received inputs from the Central team led by Dr S K Singh and Dr Vijay Handa, who are currently on a visit to Jammu.
The meeting was attended, among others, by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, Addl Health Secretary Kiran Ahuja while the Union Territory was represented by Advisor Health Rajiv Bhatnagar, Financial Secretary (Health) Atal Dullu, Divisional Commissioner Jammu Sanjeev Verma, Senior faculty members of Government Medical College Jammu and Deputy Commissioners of different districts of the Jammu Division.
Dr Jitendra said that instructions have been issued to the health authorities in Jammu region to provide Oximeters and Oxygen Concentrate for Home Quarantine patients.
Dr Singh assured the people of Jammu and Kashmir that the rising cases of COVID-19 in the UT would be tackled effectively through better hospital management and containment strategy.
He said that issues like shortage of oxygen cylinders, medical staff in hospitals would be resolved at the earliest.
The Union Minister appreciated the Central Ministries of Health and Home Affairs for promptly responding to his request and sending a Central Medical Team at a short notice led by Dr. Sudhir Kumar Singh to assess the ground situation in Jammu and adjoining districts.
The Central Team will remain in touch with the Medics in Jammu Division for continuous support and guidance on daily basis, apart from the Tele Consultation with AIIMS twice a week, till the pandemic situation improves, he added.
Dr. Jitendra said, all necessary measures would be taken on an emergency basis to reverse the trend.
He also asked the hospital providers to follow the Union Health Ministry SOP judiciously to avoid infection among themselves and create awareness about the same in public.
He also advised the Financial Secretary (Health) Atal Dullo to hold regular meetings with civil society, eminent persons and religious leaders for educating the common man about the pandemic and for taking preventive measures attached to them.
He also called for a designated Helpline and Control Room for COVID care and added that they should remain in functioning mode.
Dr Jitendra Singh underlined that non-COVID patients should get all the facilities and care they need and instructed the State Health Authorities to take necessary steps in this regard. Expressing his deep concern for high rates of infection and death in Jammu Division, Dr Jitendra Singh gave directions for Aggressive and Focussed testing, Contact Tracing and isolation and delineation of Red Zones in a scientific manner.
The Minister said that all the three main issues of oxygen cylinders, medical staff and containment flagged by the Central Team would be dealt with on priority basis. He, however, expressed satisfaction that the process of hiring the nurses, para-medics and doctors on contractual basis to overcome the shortage has begun and will soon yield the results.
The Union Minister also called for long term measures like dedicated infectious medical facilities and more oxygen plants in medical colleges and hospitals in due course. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhusan, and senior health officials from Centre and Jammu Division joined the Review Meeting through video conference.