Covid-19 help desks to be set up soon in govt depts, affiliated units

Kanpur: A Covid help desk will be established in all departments and offices and affiliated units of the state government where employees would be deployed to help people.
District magistrate Brahmadeo Ram Tiwari on Tuesday passed an order to this effect and said that an employee would be deputed at the Covid help desk for two weeks under a roster. The employees deputed at the desk would be taught about Covid and the precautions to be taken. They would wear masks, face shields and gloves and maintain a distance of two yards from visitors, the DM said.
Sanitizer, thermal scanner and pulse oximeter would be kept at the help desk to be used for visitors and chief health officer or the nearest community health centre or primary health centre would be informed in case of pulse oximeter giving reading of a visitor or employee below 94 percent. The visitors would be asked to download the Arogya setu app in their mobile phones. The office superintendent would not allow anyone to use tobacco or tobacco products, he added.
Meanwhile, divisional commissioner Sudhir M Bobde said that the health authorities had set up a separate counter for collecting samples of suspected corona cases. Kanpur is at the second place in the state in collection of samples, he added.
At a review meeting held late Tuesday evening, the commissioner directed the additional director health and the CMO to obtain protocol/guideline for disposal of non- institutional suspected cases of dead bodies. He said till guidelines were not received, the CMO would dispose of the body without any delay if kin /relatives of the deceased refused to take the body.
Taking cognizance of the reports published in newspapers, Bobde directed the health department to manage and use its manpower in such a way that positive patients were admitted at the Covid hospital and close contacts must be quarantined at the earliest or within twelve hours. Earlier, there were reports that bodies of suspected cases would lie unattended. Fresh plans would be chalked out if the number of cases increased, he added.
He also directed officers of the health department, district administration and the CMO to regularly check sanitization and the quality of food supplied at Kanshiram and Rama Covid hospitals.
SSP Dinesh Kumar suggested in the meeting to constitute a health team under the supervision of SDM and CO at the block and tehsil level. Hotspots and green zones of the city were also discussed in the meeting.