A day after the government’s announcement of the initiative, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has formed Ward Decentralised Triage and Emergency Response (DETER) Committees with the aim of managing the pandemic at the local level. Each of the 198 wards in the city will have a control room and triaging centre to address the needs of residents.
Officials in each ward will work with residents’ welfare association, organisations, students, and volunteers to set up a ward control room, triage centre, and a micro COVID Care Centre.
The Department of Health and Medical Education will appoint the staff needed for the triaging centre, which will be operational 24/7.
N. Manjunath Prasad, Principal Secretary (Revenue Department), said in a press release that lists of small hospitals, dental colleges and students should be prepared and teams must be formed to assign responsibilities of COVID-19 management. “The issues of bed allotment and late test results must be solved locally,” he added.
BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said decentralisation of zonal war rooms could help address the needs of COVID-19 patients. These details were hammered out at a virtual meeting chaired by Minister for Environment and Forest Arvind Limbavali who is in charge of the BBMP war room. Measures are being taken to curb the virus in line with Mumbai and Chennai, said Mr. Limbavali in the press release.
