The administration is attempting to increase the number of medical officers, nurses and paramedical staff after increasing the number of beds in hospitals and COVID care centres following manifold increase in the number of patients testing positive for coronavirus in this district since June 1.
It invited applications from qualified persons to temporary posts of medical officers, nurses and paramedical workers on Wednesday.
“We do not have any specific number of posts for recruitment. We are getting ready to have adequate number of manpower in health department as per government instructions. The temporary doctors and nurses could be used by other districts, if required,” Collector R. Kannan said.
Virudhunagar district reported the first positive case in Rajapalayam on March 28. The number of cases increased in single or in double digits till May 15 when the number of cases was around 46. But following influx of people from places like Chennai in June, the number saw big jump every day. From 124 positive cases as on June 1, it grew by more than four times and stood at 493 by the end of June. In the last eight days, the number has increased by another 800 and the total stood at 1,298 as on July 8. Besides, 10 patients died in the last 20 days.
“Swab tests are conducted at 21 places in the district. But it is not enough considering the number of people turning up for the test. In many places, people have to come again the next day to give their samples,” said Communist Party of India (Marxist) district secretary K. Arjunan. The number of testing centres needs to be increased. Results of tests are declared after five or six days. “Those who give samples should either be home quarantined or quarantined at government facilities to prevent spread of the infection,” he said. The administration should look into complaints over quality of food served to patients at hospitals.
The Collector said contacts of positive people were kept in institutional quarantine till their results were out. There was delay in announcing results due to limited testing facility and increased number of samples taken. “Now, we have got three RT-PCR equipment at the Virudhunagar Government Medical College Hospital and we can test around 950 samples a day. Once the backlog of cases is cleared, results would be known the next day after taking samples,” he said.
Similarly, as beds in government hospitals started filling up faster in the last 10 days, the administration is arranging two COVID-19 care centres.
“One with 250 beds is ready at Sivakasi. We will add 250 beds at Sivakasi and another 250 beds at Krishnankoil will be ready very soon.” All asymptomatic patients or patients with mild symptoms would be admitted at COVID-19 care centres. The administration is planning to have one doctor in a shift for every 100 patients at the COVID-19 care centre and a paramedical staff and nurses.