BHUBANESWAR: Odisha government on Wednesday announced establishment of Covid Care Homes in each of the 6,798 panchayats of the state as part of its new strategy to contain coronavirus spread amid surge in positive cases.
At least 70,000 people can be accommodated in Covid Care Homes which would come up in rural areas where the state government had set up temporary medical camps (TMCs) to quarantine lakhs of returnees.
The government’s decision to set up Covid Care Homes comes after it kicked off a massive house-to-house screening exercise anticipating a spurt in Covid cases with the onset of monsoon.
Announcing the decision, Chief Minister said persons with coronavirus symptoms of cold, flu and fever will be taken to Covid Care Homes first and shifted to dedicated Covid-19 hospitals if found positive.
Sarpanchs will be in charge of management of the Covid homes and financial powers would be delegated to them to run the facilities. Odisha has enough special Covid-19 hospitals where about 10,000 beds are available with ICU facilities for critical patients, he said.
To decentralised covid -19 management in state, the Chief Minister said, Covid management committees will be set up in both 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. Special powers under Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 will be delegated to these committees to deal with the pandemic,” he said.
The ward level committees will be provided Rs 10,000 each for expenditure. At present, Gaon Kalyan Samiti (Village Welfare Committees) takes care of the Covid management in villages.
In urban areas, if required, the Covid Care Homes will be set up in some of the big slums. These facilities will be manned by Government officials and local volunteers would be members of urban Covid management committees.
Continue travel restrictions: CM to Centre Bhubaneswar
Odisha Government on Wednesday requested the Centre to continue restrictions on train and air travel to the State in view of the rise in number of Covid-19 cases.
Taking part in the video conference meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said as June is the toughest month for Odisha, the Centre should continue the restrictions on the travel by train and air to the state.
He also requested the PM to take necessary steps to bring back Odias workers stranded in Gulf countries.