BHUBANESWAR: In a new strategy to contain the coronavirus spread in Odisha amid a surge in positive cases, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced the setting up of Covid Care Home Facilities in every panchayat where 10 to 20 persons with cold, cough and fever can be accommodated.
Announcing the decision, the Chief Minister said that those with these symptoms will be taken to the Covid Care Home first and shifted to dedicated Covid-19 hospitals if found positive. He said such facilities will be opened in the rural areas of the state where 70,000 people can stay.
Sarpanches will be in charge of the management of the Covid Care Homes and Temporary Medical Camps (TMCs). Financial powers will be delegated to the sarpanches to run the care homes and TMCs, the chief minister said and added that as the numbers of returning migrants have come down drastically, TMCs will be opened in some clusters.
The Chief Minister said that to decentralise Covid management committees will be constituted in urban and rural areas of the State.
People's representatives at the ward level, Asha and anganwadi workers, members of self-help groups (SHGs) and auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs) will be members of these committees in rural areas. Special powers will be delegated to these committees to deal with the pandemic.
However, ward committees in urban areas will be led by the officers. Local people and volunteers will be members of such committees, he said and members will move door to door to collect information from people about their health condition. The committees in urban areas will focus on slums.
He said Covid care homes will be set up in some of the big slums in urban areas.
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