BENGALURU: To ensure that rural parts of Karnataka are better prepared to tackle the third wave of the pandemic, the State Government has decided to set up Covid-19 Technical Expert Committees (TECs) in each district to provide technical guidance to the district administration.According to Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr K Sudhakar, each of the committees is likely to have a team of five experts, who will work in tandem with the state’s Technical Advisory Committee.
The district committee will consist of senior specialists in public health, district surveillance officers, pulmonologists, paediatricians, intensivists, obstetricians, microbiologists and surveillance medical officers of World Health Organisation (WHO) and other organisations. Also, a senior AYUSH physician will be part of it. One of them will be selected as chairperson and the District Health and Family Welfare Officer will be a special invitee.
The committee members will meet once every 15 days and, if need be, more frequently. The decision to form the committees was taken to control the positivity rate in taluks and districts as well as to ensure that the pandemic doesn’t claim more lives.
“From the experience of two waves of Covid, we know that micro-planning is the key to ensuring that the third wave, anticipated between October and November, is not really a wave, but only a ripple with just a few cases. For this, there is a definite need to involve people working on the field in rural parts of the state,” said a senior officer from the Health Department.
The TEC will pursue the guidelines issued by the central and state governments, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), AIIMS, WHO and other organisations. It will also review the data at the district-level and compare it with other districts, state and country on a continual basis.
The committee will help the district administration by utilising the information obtained locally and facilitate public health actions and containment measures.“The district administration will then be guided to make decisions that are in consonance with the state and national guidelines,” a health officer said.
Constitution of Committees
Specialists from public health
District surveillance officers
Pulmonologists
Paediatricians
Intensivists
Obstetricians
Microbiologists
Surveillance medical Officer-WHO and other organisations
AYUSH physician
District Health Officer asspecial invitee