NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI/CHENNAI/AHMEDABAD, APR 10
Amid a spike in COVID-19 cases, mock drills to take stock of hospital preparedness were held in several public and private facilities across the country on Monday, with Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya visiting the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital here to review the measures taken to combat the disease. Gujarat Health Minister Rushikesh Patel inspected the mock drill at Gandhinagar civil hospital.
India logged 5,880 fresh cases, while active cases increased to 35,199. The country’s Covid death toll has reached 5,30,979 with 14 latest fatalities, according to the health ministry data updated on Monday.
While visiting the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, Mandaviya interacted with the heads of departments and the staff. He also spent time with doctors, nurses, heads of security and sanitation services, listening to their suggestions.
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Gujarat: Dummy patients brought to Covid hospitals in ambulances during mock drill
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Tamil Nadu Health minister oversees Covid-19 preparedness mock drill at Rajiv Gandhi Hospital
The suggestions revolved around quality clinical practices, measures for infection control, hospital management, sanitation processes and patient-centric provisions.
“A huge response was seen nationwide where ministers and senior officials reviewed the preparations and capacities of hospitals and facilities,” the health ministry said.
In a review meeting held on April 7, the health minister had urged state health ministers to visit hospitals and oversee the mock drills on April 10 and 11.
In the meeting with state health ministers, and principal and additional chief secretaries held virtually, Mandaviya had stressed on identifying emergency hotspots by monitoring trends of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases, ramping up testing and vaccination, and ensuring readiness of hospital infrastructure.
Besides enhancing genome sequencing and ramping up whole genome sequencing of positive samples, he had also laid stress on creating awareness about following Covid-appropriate behaviour. During the meeting, states and Union territories were informed that the World Health Organisation (WHO) was closely tracking a variant of interest (VOI), XBB.1.5, and six other variants (BQ.1, BA.2.75, CH.1.1, XBB, XBF and XBB.1.16).
It was highlighted that while Omicron and its sublineages continue to be the predominant variants, most of the assigned variants have little or no significant transmissibility, disease severity or immune escape. The prevalence of XBB.1.16 increased from 21.6 per cent in February to 35.8 per cent in March. However, no evidence of an increase in hospitalisation or mortality has been reported, the ministry had said in a statement.
During the meeting, it was observed that 23 states and Union territories have testing rates that are lower than the current national average of 100 tests per million people.
Mandaviya had said that irrespective of the new variants, the five-fold strategy of ‘Test-Track-Treat-Vaccinate and adherence to Covid-Appropriate Behaviour’ continued to remain the tested strategy for Covid management.
The states/Union territories were also requested to expeditiously increase the rate of testing and increase the share of RT-PCR in tests.
Gujarat: Dummy patients brought to Covid hospitals in ambulances during mock drill
પ્રધાનમંત્રી શ્રી @narendramodi જી અને કેન્દ્રીય આરોગ્ય મંત્રી શ્રી @mansukhmandviya જીના નેતૃત્વ તેમજ મુખ્યમંત્રી શ્રી @bhupendrapbjp જીના માર્ગદર્શન હેઠળ કોરોનાની તમામ પરિસ્થિતિઓને પહોંચી વળવા ગુજરાત સજ્જ છે… pic.twitter.com/qTzCBZFIsG
— Rushikesh Patel (मोदी का परिवार) (@irushikeshpatel) April 10, 2023
Dummy patients were brought to various COVID-19 hospitals in Gujarat in ambulances and taken to designated wards by doctors wearing the PPE suit and the availability of oxygen was also checked during a mock drill conducted on Monday to check the preparedness of health system to deal with a surge in infections.
This exercise was conducted as per the Centre’s direction.
Gujarat Health Minister Rushikesh Patel inspected the mock drill at Gandhinagar civil hospital and assessed if the hospital is prepared to handle a high influx of patients.
Patel enquired about the availability of medicines, the functioning of ventilators and the PSA Oxygen plant at the civil hospital. He also took stock of the availability of beds and the functioning of the oxygen supply line from the PSA plant to beds in wards. “As directed by the Centre, we have organised a mock drill at all the designated COVID-19 hospitals across the state to ensure medical equipment and other infrastructure, such as ventilators, oxygen plants, concentrators, BiPAP machines, were working properly. This exercise is also aimed at finding loopholes so that they can be plugged,” Patel told reporters.
He said the state government has sought 3 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccines from the Centre to vaccinate people who have not yet taken the booster dose.
During the mock drill, the availability of oxygen at each bed in the designated COVID-19 wards in various hospitals in the state was also checked.
As per state government data, Gujarat has 2,013 active cases of COVID-19, including seven on ventilator support.
Tamil Nadu Health Minister oversees Covid-19 preparedness mock drill at Rajiv Gandhi Hospital
இராஜீவ் காந்தி அரசு பொது மருத்துவமனையில் கொரோனா நோய் தடுப்பு சிகிச்சை மற்றும் முன்னெச்சரிக்கை தயார் நிலை குறித்த ஒத்திகைப் பயிற்சி ஆய்வு மேற்கொள்ளப்பட்டது. #Masubramanian #TNHealthminister #Coronavirus #Inspection pic.twitter.com/iw9ePv9tvH
— Subramanian.Ma (@Subramanian_ma) April 10, 2023
Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian Monday visited the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai to inspect a mock drill for Covid-19 preparedness.
While addressing the reporters, Subramanian said Tamil Nadu recorded 369 cases in the past 24 hours. He said the infected persons were duly following the instructions provided by the doctors including taking medicine, isolating themselves at home, etc.
“The third wave of Covid-19 is not as severe as the previous one and hence there is no requirement for ICU and oxygen. The spread of another variant of Omicron is witnessed across the country. Based on the directions of the Union Government and Chief Minister MK Stalin, the mock drill is set to take place for two days,” the minister said.
He said that the stock of oxygen beds, number of medical personnel, face masks, medicines, and all other requirements will be noted and appropriate measures will be initiated.
