Lockdown No Solution To Contain Virus Spread: AP CM YS Jagan

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy held a high-level meeting to take stock of the COVID situation in the state.

The Chief Minister said imposing lockdown has worsened the financial situation, and people suffered a lot, and Covid should be controlled without imposing lockdown this time. He directed the officials to focus on controlling COVID 19 through focused testing. Testing the primary contacts of those who have tested positive for Covid is called focused testing. He said to prepare PHCs, Sub Centers to collect samples for testing. He said the composition of ‘positivity cases’ was 62 percent in urban areas and 38 percent in rural areas. However, the mortality rate is higher in rural areas. Deaths in positive‌ cases are higher in rural areas as they are going to the hospitals too late.

He said to create awareness on COVID-19 using volunteers, Asha workers, and ANMs and conduct tests on the people identified with symptoms during the survey. He directed the district collectors to hold review meetings with Joint Collectors every day on the COVID situation and preparedness of hospitals. The Chief Minister said 108 hospitals are empaneled for COVID treatment, and out of 15,669 beds in those hospitals, 4,889 beds are occupied and directed the officials to increase the availability of beds in the hospitals.  He instructed the officials to ensure oxygen facilities, infrastructure, food quality in hospitals, sanitation, medication, doctors; paramedical staff are adequate in hospitals as it's the responsibility of the government. He said 13,500 beds are available in Covid care centers and they should b increased to 50,000, and the patients with no separate room for isolation in their house should be shifted to the COVID care center.

The Chief Minister said volunteers, ANMs, and Asha workers should regularly monitor the conditions of patients in home isolation. He said CCTVs and help desks should be present in COVID hospitals. He said the district collectors should own 104 services and ensure the calls get attended to immediately and directed the collectors to conduct mock calls to test the working of 104 services. Patients should be provided with a bed or Covid kit within three hours of the request. He said COVID treatment should be provided free of cost in empaneled hospitals and ensure quality drugs and injections like Remedsiver are available in Arogyasri hospitals.

The Chief Minister said to ensure G.O 77 and G.O 78 are implemented and take stringent action against private hospitals which charge more money for COVID treatment. He said the district collectors should monitor the availability of oxygen and added that the Health Minister and senior officials of the health department will review the situation every day.  He said six lakh vaccines should be administered every day in the state and added that he has written a letter to the central government seeking required vaccine doses. He said health care workers and frontline workers should compulsorily take the vaccine and added that the collectors should focus on limiting vaccine wastage. He said 1902 is allotted for grievances, and the collectors should ensure the calls are attended to and answered.

Deputy Chief Minister Alla Krishna Srinivas, Animal Husbandry Minister Dr. Seediri Appalraju, Health Principal Secretary Anil Singhal, Health Commissioner Katamaneni Bhaskar, Transportation Principal Secretary M T Krishna Babu, Health Secretary M Ravi Chandra, Arogyasri CEO Dr. Mallikarjuna, and other officials were present.