BHUBANESWAR: With a surge in coronavirus cases fuelled by the new variant, Omicron, the State government on Sunday directed district administrations to activate help desks at COVID hospitals and COVID care centres to ensure patients are able to communicate with their families and relatives.
This apart, the district collectors have been given a free hand to recruit retired doctors and nurses in the dedicated COVID facilities as per requirement.
Taking a review of the preparedness at ground level for the third wave of COVID-19 with collectors virtually, Chief Secretary Suresh Mahapatra asked them to submit their requirements to the Health and Family Welfare department so that medical equipment and medicines can be supplied to the respective districts on priority basis.
He advised the collectors to provide booster dose of vaccine to doctors, nurses and health workers on priority. The CDMOs and public health officers were asked to initiate booster dose inoculation with the available stock of vaccines in their respective districts.
The Chief Secretary further directed the collectors to visit all COVID hospitals to oversee arrangements like availability of medicine, manpower, instruments, pathological test facilities, oxygen availability, seamless admission of patients, proper treatment, availability of trained doctors, nurse and health workers.
Emphasising empathetic treatment of patients, Mahapatra asked the officials concerned to ensure no patient is neglected at the hospitals. Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Raj Kumar Sharma said that all facilities and provisions put in place for combating the second wave should be re-activated with full force.
He advised the collectors to recruit retired doctors and nurses locally as per the requirement. Sources said that as many as 7,181 oxygen supported beds, around 1,000 paediatric beds, 2,024 ICUs and HDUs, and 874 ventilators were are available with the districts.
As of now, the State has 16,117 active cases of whom 15,640 are being treated in home isolation. Patients recuperating at home are being managed by members of rapid response teams constituted in each district and ULB.
The present trend shows around 97 per cent of the patients can be managed without actual hospitalisation. Only around 3 per cent of the available beds, 11 per cent of the ICUs and 3 per cent of the ventilators are being used at the hospitals in the State.