Uttar Pradesh: 59 bureaucrats to monitor Covid care

LUCKNOW: For seamless monitoring of Covid-19 arrangements, the UP government has appointed 59 officials of the rank of secretary and principal secretary as nodal officers in 75 districts. Chief secretary RK Tiwari directed officers to review treatment and prevention mechanisms and monitor Covid-related activities. Most officials, who reached their designated districts by Saturday, will camp for a week and update the CM’s office every day.
The nodal officers will review functioning of monitoring committees in urban and rural areas of districts and work to track, test and treat patients. The officials will ensure that committees meet targets of door-to-door surveys. The committees should also have adequate medical kits for distribution among those displaying Covid symptoms or those who test positive. Every day, the panel will provide names and contact details to sector in charge of those given medical kits. This list will be shared with local administration and ICCCs, which will verify and provide a copy of the list to public representatives so that they can contact patients.
The monitoring committees must ensure those to be quarantined have a room and separate toilet. If these facilities are missing, the committees will submit names and contact details of such patients to the district administration through sector in charge so that they can be shifted to quarantine centres. The Covid command centres should update details of those in home isolation or in quarantine centres and share details with doctors. After a screening by the monitoring committee, those displaying Covid symptoms must undergo antigen testing by the rapid response teams within 24 hours. Also, nodal officers will ensure sanitisation drives are carried out in rural and urban areas of their designated districts.