Bhubaneswar: The state health department Saturday issued special instructions to Collectors to take timely action and proper care of Covid patients during cyclone Yaas.
In a communication to the Collectors, the department asked them to take preventive measures and ensure early stocking of essential drugs before the onset of the cyclone in the state.
“Necessary arrangement is to be made for conducting Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) of people before evacuating them to cyclone shelters. Medical care and public health interventions need to be planned for camps housing evacuated populations. Rapid Antigen Tests may be taken up for population in camps followed RT-PCR testing for symptomatic negative Rapid Antigen Tests,” the instruction read.
It also added, “All Covid hospitals/Covid care centres may be stocked with all essential medicines/oxygen cylinders/ oxygen and other required manpower so as to provide uninterrupted medical support to the patients,” the instructions to Collectors said.
The district administration was asked to watch out for outbreak of other diseases and take timely actions. “District surveillance units and public health teams mobilized for Covid management need to be reoriented on possible outbreak of epidemic prone diseases such as influenza, measles, acute diarrhoeal diseases, dysentery, leptospirosis, dengue, malaria and others,” he said.
“Senior citizens and those suffering from diabetes, hypertension, liver kidney, respiratory diseases, need to be specifically monitored with Covid prospective as they constitute people under high risk. As communication disruption is also likely to occur at some places, major hospitals in the districts may be provided with satellite phones/HAM radio connections,” the health department told Collectors.
It asked Collectors to ensure that despite cyclones, attempts should be made to ensure that social distancing, mask wearing and hand washing are promoted in the community during the cyclone and its aftermath to prevent chances of the spread of the disease in the community.
The instructions also said, “Rapid response movement, ambulance, referral services need to be coordinated at block /district level. Disease surveillance and daily reporting during and after cyclonic/flood like situations should be done.”
PNN