BENGALURU: In a bid to encourage COVID-19 recovered patients to donate plasma, Karnataka government will give Rs 5000 to every donor as a mark of appreciation, said Minister for Medical Education Dr. K Sudhakar on Wednesday.
"8154 booth level committees to be set up in one or two days to conduct home to home survey in order to identify ILI, SARI cases to refer them to hospitals, COVID care centres, certify them for home isolation or encourage reverse isolation for those above 60. They will also track primary and secondary contacts of the infected persons, carry pulse oximeter and thermal scanner with them, while catering to 400 homes with 1500 population per booth level committee," Sudhakar said.
Ambulances will be stationed at every ward and zonal in-charge officers have to supervise all these tasks on a daily basis, take care of labs and testing procedures in their respective zones.
RDPR secretary L K Atheeq to conduct meetings to provide orientation and training to booth level task force members about COVID-19 management. No samples should be kept pending for a week and senior officer Shalini Rajaneesh will take care of that aspect.
Infected persons from slums and other places where there is no facility for home isolation should be quarantined in government COVID care Centres, Dr.Sudhakar instructed, adding that "Dharavi model" must be followed.
"Disciplinary action will be initiated against institutions which neglect COVID testing. Labs must enhance their testing numbers to minimum 1000 samples per day in the next 10-15 days. Cases are increasing in the state and there are complaints from people that test reports are being delayed for weeks. State crosses 9 lakh tests milestone and capacity to be further enhanced to conduct 50,000 tests per day," he said.
He held a meeting with 25 private medical colleges that are yet to set up labs and instructed them to do so after arranging equipment within a week. In the next 15 days, 58 medical colleges will test 25,000 to 30,000 samples every day. Private hospitals and labs together will be able to test another 10,000 samples per day.
He said that pending arrears of JJMMC students will be released within 3-4 days, as medical students have been protesting for stipend not being paid since 16 months.