With coronavirus cases spreading fast in the rural parts of the State, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday asked the officers to launch a special door to door screening drive in villages by constituting 8000 multidisciplinary teams.

Presiding over a review meeting with top officials of Health and Panchayat Department in Chandigarh, Khattar directed that proactive strategies like conducting door-to-door health screening camps covering each house, constituting special dedicated multidisciplinary teams for screening and converting Dharamshalas, Government Schools, AYUSH Centres into Isolation Centres should be adopted to contain the virus spread.

The Chief Minister said that since in rural areas the virus is spreading fast, special screening camps focusing on ‘Test, Track and Treat’ strategy should be adopted in each village so that anyone having Covid-19 symptoms can be caught early and further, the possibility of infection spread can be prevented.  Besides this, the Health Department has also been directed to impart necessary training to people in these villages so that they can spread the required awareness for the disease, he added.

“We have to protect rural areas from this deadly infection at any cost, therefore every officer concerned should ensure that special vigilance is kept on every village and for this a massive  Covid-19 screening campaign should be conducted in all villages of the state,”  directed Khattar.

He said that a special awareness campaign cum counselling of rural inhabitants should be done and for these officers of health department along with ASHA workers, former and present public representatives in each village have to play key roles in encouraging people to get themselves tested in the screening camps. Apart from this, dedicated efforts should be made to raise awareness about safety practices and the precautionary measures to control the spread of Covid-19 infection in rural areas.

 “Further strengthening of medical infrastructure along with ramping up Covid-19 management preparations coupled with aggressive surveillance, stringent containment, focused clinical management  should also be done in every village on priority basis," directed the Chief Minister.

The Chief Minister directed that about 8000 multidisciplinary teams led by trainee doctors including health department officials, ASHA and Anganwadi workers should be constituted across the State so that door to door health screening of households can be done in every village.  Proper screening of every family should be done along with the recording of their oxygen and temperature levels.

 “If during the screening camps any person is found having Covid-like symptoms of fever, cold and cough, then the person should be advised to stay in home isolation immediately so as to prevent the possibility of infection spread. Approximately one team per 500 households should be deployed for conducting the health screening.”, said Khattar.

He further said that patients having mild and moderate symptoms are immediately prescribed preventive medicines for Covid-19 infection. Besides this, it should also be ensured that those having severe symptoms are right away hospitalized to get the required treatment.

The Chief Minister further directed that the possibility of converting Dharamshalas and government schools into isolation Centres should be explored at the earliest. If the patient rush in the Covid care centres and hospital increases then these Dharamshalas, government schools having required medical facilities to treat the COVID-19 patients can be utilized so that every patient gets the needed medical care, he added.

HRY TO LAUNCH VACCINATION DRIVE FOR JOURNALISTS

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday announced the launch of a massive vaccination drive for all the media persons in Haryana. 

The Chief He said that during this massive vaccination drive the COVID 19 vaccines would be administered to every media person. “Every journalist will be given priority during the vaccination drive and preparations for vaccination administration would be made at media centres in all districts,” he said.