Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : Union Home Minister Amit Shah on November 15, 2020, reviewed the Covid-19 situation in Delhi in the backdrop of rising number of cases and the increasing strain on the capacity of medical infrastructure in the hospitals of the Capital.
The meeting was attended by Union Health Minister, Lt. Governor, Delhi; Chief Minister, Delhi; Health Minister, Delhi; Home Secretary; Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW); Dr V K Paul; Director, AIIMS; Director General, ICMR; Secretary, DRDO; Director General, Armed Forces Medical Services (DGAFMS), and other senior officials.
At the outset, Dr VK Paul made a presentation, which highlighted the deteriorating situation of Covid-19 in Delhi. It was pointed out that the number of active cases per day has increased substantially. While the Case Fatality Rate (CFR) continues to remain in control, the health and medical infrastructure, such as dedicated Covid-19 beds, beds with ventilators, and ICUs, is already showing signs of strain.
Shah issued a number of directions at the meeting. First, it was directed that the testing capacity for RT-PCR tests would be doubled in Delhi by optimally utilising the lab capacity within Delhi itself; through mobile testing labs to be deployed by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoH&FW) and ICMR, in areas where poor and vulnerable sections of the society reside; by temporarily shifting some testing labs from other parts of the country, where they are unutilised, to Delhi; and, by utilising spare capacity in neighboring regions of Delhi. This was considered essential in order to bring down the positivity rate in Delhi, which has gone up substantially in recent weeks.
Shah also directed that the hospital capacity and availability of other medical infrastructure should be ramped up considerably. It was decided that 250-300 additional beds with ICUs would be added to the existing medical facility of DRDO at Dhaula Kuan, where, presently, around 250 beds have been provided with ICUs, out of the total available 1,000 Covid-19 beds. The 10,000 bed Covid Care Centre established at Chattarpur would also be strengthened, with a view to enhancing availability of beds with oxygen capacity. Shah directed MOHF&W to make arrangements for requisite numbers of BIPAP machines and high flow nasal canulas to the Delhi Government within the next 48 hours, according to a PIB release.
In view of the shortage of medical staff in Delhi, the Modi Government has decided to provide additional doctors and paramedical staff from the CAPFs and they would soon be airlifted to Delhi. It was also decided that dedicated multi-departmental teams would visit all the private hospitals in Delhi to physically check the availability of Covid-19 medical infrastructure vis-a-vis the admission status, and to ensure that the correct position of availability was displayed prominently, as had been decided earlier. A few identified hospitals of the Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCD) would also be converted as dedicated hospitals for Covid-19 treatment, especially for accommodating patients with milder symptoms. It was also decided that MOHF&W will issue a standard protocol for plasma therapy and plasma administration for treatment of COVID-19 patients immediately.
Shah also emphasised that the entire set of containment measures instituted earlier, such as establishment of containment zones, contact tracing and quarantining, and screening, particularly of vulnerable sections of society, should be reviewed continuously. The officers concerned particularly those at District levels would be personally responsible for ensuring compliance in this regard and any deviation observed in this regard would be viewed seriously.
The Home Minister specifically emphasised the need to keep track of Covid-19 patients, who are in home isolation, and to ensure that they are shifted to regular hospitals, as soon as urgent medical attention is deemed necessary. It was also decided that house-to-house survey in the entire Delhi will be conducted by the teams of AIIMS, Government of NCT of Delhi and Municipal Corporations (MCDs) of Delhi; thereafter, all the symptomatic persons found in the survey would be tested and provided necessary treatment.