NEW DELHI: The Delhi government's home isolation service is catering to more than 50,000 patients at present. Besides providing medicines and oximeters, the civil defense volunteers, ASHA workers and paramedics are ensuring that patients receive proper isolation facilities, including a room to isolate and a spare bathroom.
According to officials, a spike can be expected in the home isolation numbers as COVID cases are increasing in the national capital. On Thursday, a total of 62,324 patients were in home isolation. While some patients complained of getting too many calls from the teleconsultancy service of Delhi government, some said they received the call after recovering from illness.
According to Raj Kumar Meena, a resident of Nangal Raya near Janakpuri, the health staff took care of him and his sister in an efficient manner. "The day my sister and I tested positive, we received a call from the tele-consultancy service staff who asked us about our health condition and enquired about the things we needed. Next day, two civil defense staff came to our house and gave oximeters and medicines. ASHA workers from our area also called us to know if we needed anything and if we wanted to get admitted to a hospital. They were so quick in their response and managed everything so well," says Raj Kumar.
According to East District magistrate Sonika Singh, The tele-consultancy service contacts patients after collecting data from ICMR website. "We keep track of the data on the website on a real-time basis and call the patients on the day they test positive. Later, we mark the cases to different dispensaries who send teams to the houses of patients," adds Sonika.
There are around 600 teams to look after patients in home isolation. Recently, the Delhi government hired around 1,000 volunteers who have done a crash course in COVID duties from IP University.
Meanwhile, 26-year-old Akriti Sharma said she received the call a week after testing positive. "They asked about my oxygen levels and enquired if I had fever, but thankfully I had recovered so I did not avail their services," says Akriti, a resident of Lajpat Nagar.