NEW DELHI: Bracing for a possible third wave of the pandemic, the Delhi government on Thursday set up two committees to look into the infrastructural requirements and devise an action plan. A 13-member committee will prepare an action plan for the third wave after assessing the current status. The members of the committee will be required to look into the smooth functioning of the healthcare system and give a status update on health infrastructure such as hospitals, oxygen plants and drug supplies in the city.
Another eight-member expert committee has been set up to devise a strategy for mitigation and management of the third wave of Covid-19. Both the committees will be chaired by IAS officer Satya Gopal, ACS (Power) and Nodal Officer (Covid-19).
According to the order issued by the department of health and family welfare, the 13 member committee will also “identify other crucial components (equipment, drugs or any other item) which may create a bottleneck, and prepare supply chain management plans for them as well” in addition to many other responsibilities.
Delhi government also plans to create a separate cadre of 10,000 trained ‘Paramedical Volunteers’ who will be available to be deployed at short notice in different parts of the city. These volunteers will be created, along the lines of the Civil Defence Volunteers cadre of the Delhi government. They can then be deployed in COVID Care centres, field hospitals, for support for patients in home isolation and multiple other roles that are required during a pandemic.
The other eight-member committee will look into steps like planning of lockdown, data trends and making predictions for advance planning. These officials have also been tasked to formulate plans on how to use the healthcare infrastructure and utilise it in a planned manner depending on the positivity rate and the number of cases.