Ranchi/Bokaro: After a spurt in the fresh cases, the Ranchi administration on Wednesday asked the district health machinery to deploy its team at the city’s railway stations and bus stands to screen incoming passengers for Covid-19. Meanwhile, officials posted at a camp set up at Bokaro railway station are finding it hard to screen everybody as most passengers arriving from various states are giving the Covid tests a slip, forcing the civil surgeon to seek help from the railways.
A statement issued by the Ranchi public relations office said health teams will be deployed at Ranchi and Hatia railway stations and ITI and Khadgarha bus stands.
Deputy commissioner Chhavi Ranjan issued a slew of directives to the administrative officials on Wednesday evening, immediately after health secretary Kamal Kishore Soan chaired a meeting of the district officials to take stock of the situation in the state capital.
To check efforts of Covid-19 patients to dodge home isolation, directives were issued to all private laboratories to verify the contact numbers and document of residential addresses of people who come into their facilities to get tested. DSP (city) Amit Kumar Singh was directed to furnish daily reports of contact tracing exercises of new Covid-19 patients.
In the meeting, Ranjan also asked the administrative officials to convene a meeting with all city-based private hospitals to get a clear picture of the number of Covid-19 beds available at present.
Earlier in the day, Soan directed officials to ensure that travel history of infected patients and their contacts are maintained for records. He also asked district officials to ensure asymptomatic, mildly symptomatic, co-morbid and serious patients are identified and priorities be set accordingly in case of hospitalisation.
The district officials have been asked to take up area-wise vaccination drives and concentrate on inoculating people in areas which are witnessing a rise in cases.
In Bokaro, the administration has begun mask-checking drives on roads and public places. “We have increased Covid-19 testing to 1,500 persons per day to keep a check on the virus,” said civil surgeon Dr A K Pathak.
However, the railway station is the primary focus of the health department where they have launched a testing drive. Earlier, the thrust was to test passengers arriving in the Dhanbad Allapuzah (Alleppy) Special train and Ranchi-LTTE Special (train), but from Wednesday, the administration has set a target to test passengers arriving in all trains. “Earlier we took 100-150 samples a day at the station, but from Wednesday, we increased it to 500-600,” said a health department officer.
On issues being faced in testing passengers, a health worker said, “When a lot of passengers arrive at the same time, many ignore and walk away. Many passengers also hide in the crowd and escape.”
Pathak said, “We do not have many technicians and the test takes some time. While some passengers are patient, others give it a slip. People need to understand that the tests are being conducted for their safety.”
With 68 active cases in the district as on Tuesday, Bokaro General Hospital has reopened its Critical Care Unit for Covid and augmented beds to accommodate a surge in the number of patients.