District Collector V. Vinay Chand instructed the officials to take up COVID-19 vaccination programme effectively. He said that in mandal-level, Tahsildars, Mandal Parishad Development Officers (MPDOs) and health officials should team up and prepare an action plan to organise the programme in a smooth manner. In the wake of increasing number of cases, the Collector conducted a video conference with officials from various departments to discuss the steps to be taken to control the cases, here on Wednesday.
He instructed the officials to ensure people above 45 years are given vaccine. People having hypertension and diabetes should be vaccinated without fail, he said. “Take a ward/village secretariat as a unit and start vaccination drive from March 25. Primary Health Centres (PHCs) should play a key role in the drives,” he stated.
He also said that they would be appointing a senior officer as a nodal officer to every mandal to check the vaccination process. The Collector also reminded that it is the duty of Tahsildars to identify a place near secretariat for the vaccination programme. The staff should inform people about the place of vaccination, time and date a day before vaccination. After first dose of vaccine, the staff must convey the date of second dose. He also explained to the volunteers about the vaccination process at the centres and told them to convey the same to the people.
Mr. Vinay Chand said that beds are ready in the district hospitals. If needed, patients can be admitted to the hospitals or be given treatment under home isolation. Tahsildars, MPDOs and the Health Department officials should check whether proper treatment is being provided to the patients under home isolation, he said.
GVMC Commissioner G. Srijana, Joint Collectors M. Venugopal Reddy and R. Govinda Rao, District Medical & Health Officer P. Suryanarayana and a few others were present.
Later, Mr. Govinda Rao conducted a review meet with the officials and said that following instructions from the government, a 15-day day-to-day programmes will be organised in the wake of rise in COVID-19 cases in the district. He said that awareness programmes about COVID-19 appropriate behaviour, vaccination and a few others will be taken up.