With the detection of COVID-19 cases in Telangana, the districts in north-east Karnataka region that share border with Telangana were put on high alert.
Special isolated wards have been opened at district and taluk public health facilities in all six districts of Bidar, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Raichur, Koppal, and Ballari. Deputy Commissioners and senior officials in the Health and Family Welfare Department have directed the healthcare functionaries operating at the grassroots level to keep a watch on their patients.
Speaking to The Hindu, Deputy Commissioner of Kalaburagi B. Sharat said that two-bed special isolation wards in all taluk hospitals and a five-bed ward in the district hospital attached to Gulbarga Institute of Medical Sciences in Kalaburagi city were opened to handle the situation.
“Preparations have been on for the last month. We have been conducting meetings with health officials and public outreach programmes. We had conducted a workshop for the Health Department functionaries on the third of last month,” he said.
The Raichur district administration has taken extra precaution as it is closely associated with Hyderabad.
“We have established five medical check-posts – three in the highways that connect Telangana with the district and one each in the railway station and bus stand – where medical teams will be present round the clock. The teams at highway check-posts will check every vehicle coming from Telangana. The teams at the railway station and bus stand will monitor patients that will come to the post. If they find anybody with COVID-19 symptoms, they will be taken to Raichur Institute of Medical Sciences or Navodaya Medical College. The samples would be collected and sent to Bengaluru. Till the test reports come, they will be treated in the quarantine wards,” R. Venkatesh Kumar, told The Hindu.
Koppal Deputy Commissioner P. Sunil Kumar said that a five-bed special isolation ward was opened in Koppal district hospital.
Some private hospitals also have put their staff on high alert. “We are working in close association with the Health Department and following all the directions regarding COVID-19. Apart from issuing directions to our staff to take proper measures to prevent the possible infection, we have also told them to take up investigation from the COVID-19 angle when a suspected patient arrives,” Vikram Siddareddy, chairman of United Hospital, said.