CHANDIGARH: The central government team deployed in Punjab’s nine worst Covid-hit districts has emphasised an urgent need to enhance focus on contact tracing in Patiala and Ludhiana districts, and pointed out that contact tracing efforts in Mohali district were also being hampered due to shortage of manpower.
In a demi-official letter addressed to Punjab’s health secretary Hussan Lal, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan has conveyed that additional manpower must be deployed on priority. He also pointed out shortage of health workers in Patiala, Mohali and Ropar.
These nine districts are Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Mohali, Ropar, Patiala, Nawanshahr and Gurdaspur.
“The Union government has also taken a note of issues related to vaccine availability and required action to augment supplies based on available stock,” said Bhushan.
The Union health secretary also conveyed that the central team had reported that the hospital’s bed occupancy rates in Mohali, Jalandhar and Ludhiana districts were on the higher side and suitable arrangement must be made by the district health authorities with sufficient lead time to prepare for any surge in cases. The central team has also noted that low rates of testing had been reported from Patiala and there was no RT-PCR testing laboratory in Ropar. It has also been pointed out that there was no dedicated Covid hospital in Mohali and Ropar districts, and patients were being referred to neighbouring districts or Chandigarh. The central team also reported lack of any Covid care centre in Ropar. The team has also pointed out various issues regarding procurement of ventilators in Nawanshahr district. In Ropar, although ventilators are available, these are not being optimally used due to shortage of healthcare workforce, particularly doctors and nurses. “Contractual hiring of health care workers would go a long way in addressing this,” the Union health secretary has said.
The Punjab health secretary informed that the central team which toured Patiala and Ludhiana districts had reported slow pace of Covid-19 vaccination among persons above 45 years (with co-morbidities) and those above 60 years. “This needs to be addressed on priority,” reads the letter. The central team has also highlighted lack of Covid-appropriate behaviour by people and suggested stricter ground-level enforcement.