BENGALURU : After getting the additional portfolio of Health recently, Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar’s first challenge is tackling the twin problems of flooding and the pandemic.
He says the focus is on hygiene and lists measures being taken to ensure diseases, including Covid-19, don’t spread. He speaks about making sure people follow all protocols like wearing masks and maintaining social distancing during the festival and poll seasons. Excerpts.
Many parts of Karnataka are devastated by floods. How are you dealing with the twin challenges?
I have held a video conference with the district administrations of Kalaburagi, Bagalkot, Koppal, Yadgir, Belagavi and Vijayapura, which have been hit by floods. Measures are being taken to prevent the spread of diseases, including Covid-19, dengue, chikungunya and Japanese Encephalitis. Clean drinking water, hygienic food, masks, hand washing facilities, sanitiser and social distancing are being ensured in rehabilitation centres. Elderly women, children below 5 years, pregnant women and other vulnerable categories are being housed in PHCs, CHCs and taluk hospitals and their health is being monitored. Compared to last year, dengue, chikungunya and other diseases are under control in these districts this year.
We are in a festive season and rules are being broken.
Taking a cue from what happened in Kerala during Onam (where cases rose), we have taken strict measures, especially in Mysuru. I have visited Mysuru at least four times to take stock of the measures. Thanks to enhanced testing resulting in early detection of cases, awareness campaigns, enforcement of precautionary measures and efforts of Corona warriors, state’s Covid situation is getting better. On Friday, the positivity rate declined to 4.94% while case fatality rate plunged to 0.95%.
Covid protocols have been breached during campaigning for the bypolls.
Political parties and candidates are not only flouting the guidelines of the Election Commission, but exposing themselves and the public to the danger of infection. I urge parties and candidates to ensure that they not only cooperate with the district machinery in following the norms of public health safety, but also instil civic discipline in their cadre.
People are waiting for a vaccine. What preparations have you made for the distribution of the vaccine?
While it is the aim of our government to provide vaccination to each and every citizen at the earliest, the first priority is to administer it to all healthcare workers, both in government and private sector. If all goes well, the vaccine is expected to be available as early as January next year. The Central government is already working on a detailed plan on how to roll out the vaccine once it is ready. The Prime Minister has rightly said that the scale and reach of this exercise will be similar to that of the election process.
The Central authorities in a letter have said that numbers have come down in Karnataka because of fewer RT-PCR tests and called for an increase.
The State has set a target of conducting 80% of the total tests through the RT-PCR method, and on a day-on-day basis the target has been met in the past few days. Although we have ramped up RT-PCR, we will continue testing using RAT as it is the most useful point-of-care test, especially in the identification and treatment of SARI and ILI cases. Karnataka conducted 1,08,356 tests on Friday, out of which 86,741, that is, more than 80% of them are RT-PCR tests.