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New Delhi: The central government on Thursday asked states and union territories to ensure adequate buffer stock of eight critical drugs used for clinical treatment of COVID-19 and to deal with any possible surge in cases. Advised to review the preparedness of hospitals for
Reviewing the public health preparedness for the Omron variant and the progress of vaccination through video conference, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan urged the Health Secretaries and NHM MDs of the States and UTs to ensure that all health facilities are functional. Have ventilators, PSA plants and oxygen concentrators.
“States were informed that many ventilators supplied by the Center are still lying unpacked and unused in some field hospitals, consumables are not being procured and are not being made available by the states.
“There is an urgent need to review to ensure that all PSA oxygen plants, oxygen concentrators and ventilators are installed and working,” a health ministry statement said.
The five-fold strategy of adhering to the test-track-treatment-vaccination-covid-appropriate behavior was highlighted as a mainstay of the public health response strategy for effective and timely control and management of COVID-19 and its variants .
States and Union Territories were told to step up testing and focus on surveillance to ensure their quick isolation and early identification of suspected cases for further clinical management. They have been advised to ensure the availability of RT-PCR test in all districts, the statement said.
“Districts reporting high case positivity were alerted to regularly monitor the case trajectory and send positive samples to the mapped INSACOG laboratories for genomic sequencing,” it said.
Close monitoring of emerging hotspots/clusters, rapid detection of cases of success and re-infection were discussed. It was re-emphasized that all contacts of positive patients be traced and tested at the earliest as per protocol, the statement said.
Based on the information of passengers from ‘at risk’ countries from the Air Suvidha Portal, the meeting highlighted district-wise surveillance of international passengers who test negative on arrival with focus on symptomatic cases.
Keeping in view the winter season, they were advised that the symptoms of influenza-like illness, severe acute respiratory infection and respiratory distress should be closely monitored, the statement said.
To ensure that all hospital infrastructure is prepared for any possible surge in cases, states and union territories were advised to review their preparedness to provide quality medical care.
As the progress of utilization of funds is being reviewed by the Ministry of Health at the field level, there is a need to fill in the progress of the matter in the portal created for the purpose. There is a need to ensure that all health facilities at the field level have functional ventilators, PSA plants, oxygen concentrators, the statement said.
The Health Secretary also urged the states to ensure to maintain adequate buffer stock for the eight critical drugs identified for clinical treatment of COVID-19. Guidelines for these were shared with him in July.
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