The health ministry on Wednesday recognised the containment efforts in coronavirus hotspots like Pune in Maharashtra and Pathanamthitta in Kerala as best practices adopted by states that were worthy of emulation. The ministry also lists several webinars conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi to better arm medical care workers to deal with the unique challenges presented by the coronavirus outbreak.
The health ministry said that both Central and the state governments had taken a series of measures to break the chain of transmission and have successfully scaled up their responses as per the ongoing increased cases noted across the country.
It then added that several districts have taken measures which have emerged as best practices. It showers rich praise on Pune for its containment efforts.
“Pune district sealed the central region of Pune and Kondhwa area effectively and carried out door-to-door survey of homes located across 35 sq. km area. The team is also checking persons with co-morbidity like Diabetes and Hypertension apart from travel history and contact tracing,” the health ministry said while recognising the additional measures like the door to door survey and monitoring of patients with co-morbidity, which is considered to be fatal in combination with cornavirus.
It also cited the example of Pathanamthitta district in Kerala to highlight that the district administration had gone beyond the standard procedure for the containment of the deadly virus.
“Pathanamthitta district ensured surveillance, gathering travel history, contact tracing, ensuring quarantine facilities and providing essential & psychological support,” the ministry said,
Next, it lauded a training module launched by the Central government for management of COVID-19. The module named ‘Integrated Govt. Online training’ (iGOT) portal is for the capacity building of frontline workers including doctors, nurses, paramedics, technicians, ANMs, State Govt Officers, Civil Defence officials, National Cadet Corps (NCC), National Service Scheme (NSS), Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) and other volunteers.
Finally, the ministry notes that AIIMS, New Delhi, has been conducting several webinars to build the capacity of different categories of healthcare professionals for Covid-19 management. It specifically mentions online training of physicians for antenatal care and labour management of pregnant women who are suspected or confirmed coronavirus patients.
As of now, the health ministry has reported 5194 confirmed cases of the disease including 149 deaths and 402 cases where the patient was discharged after recovery.
