To tackle rising Covid cases, Haryana looks to IAS, IPS officers with MBBS degrees

CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government on Saturday decided to rope in IAS and IPS officers who have studied medicine to manage the sitation arising out of a surge in Covid-19 cases.
Three IPS officers with MBBS degrees have been deputed for Covid-related duties. The spokesperson said services of these IAS and IPS officers had been placed at the disposal of the additional chief secretary of Haryana health and family welfare department for creation and operation of 500-bedded hospitals in Panipat and Hisar, operating a 100-bedded facility at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical College, Faridabad, and any other duties, as required from time to time.
An official said officers who have an MBBS degree and whose services would be used for Covid-related duties include Dr Chander Shekhar Khare, director and special secretary (food, civil supplies and consumer affairs); Dr R S Dhillon, director of Haryana Governance Reforms Authority, and managing director of CONFED; Dr Sangeeta Tetarwal, district municipal commissioner of Sirsa; Dr Manoj Kumar, additional deputy commissioner of Jind; and Dr Vaishali Sharma, sub-divisional officer (civil) of Naraingarh.
The state government has also decided to use the services of three IPS officers — South Gurugram DCP Dr Dheeraj Kumar, Faridabad NIT DCP Dr Anshu Singla, and Ballabhgarh DCP Dr Arpit Jain.
Relief for vulnerable staff
In view of the surge in Covid-19 cases, Haryana government has decided that its employees with severe disabilities, comorbidities like hypertension, blood pressure, heart or lung disease, cancer and other chronic disease, and who are pregnant — whether regular, contractual, outsourced, daily wager or ad hoc — will not be called for duty, even if they are engaged in essential services.
If required, the staff could work from home, provided they have necessary infrastructure. This exemption will remain in force till further orders. The decision has been taken by the state to break the infection chain and ensure safety of persons who are likely to suffer a serious illness because of coronavirus infection. As part of this, the government has issued detailed preventive measures, titled ‘Coronavirus (Covid-19): Guidelines for Protection and Safety of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), Vulnerable Persons and Pregnant Women’.
On May 8 and July 16 last year, the government had issued similar orders for blind employees in view of their dependence on ‘touch’. According to the guidelines, vulnerable employees will not be exposed to any frontline work requiring direct contact with public. A letter in this regard has been sent to all administrative secretaries, heads of department, commissioners of all divisions in Haryana, deputy commissioners, managing directors/chief administrators of boards/corporations, and registrar of all universities.