Raj health dept alerted over respiratory illnesses rising in China, mock drill today

Jaipur, Nov 29 (IANS) In view of the increase in cases of respiratory diseases in China, Additional Chief Secretary of the Medical and Health Department, Shubhra Singh has alerted the medical management of Rajasthan and gave instructions to organise a mock drill on Wednesday to review the availability of health facilities in the medical institutions of the state.

Singh said that according to the letter issued by the government and the available information, the situation is not worrisome yet, but the medical management should work with full vigilance for surveillance and prevention of infectious diseases across the state. Proper arrangements for testing, medicine, treatment etc. should be ensured in all medical institutions.

The Additional Chief Secretary was addressing the officials through video conference at Swasthya Bhavan on Tuesday regarding preparations to prevent the respiratory disease found in China.

She said that according to the information, at present not a single case of this disease has been reported in the country. Nevertheless, vigilance is being taken as a precautionary measure to keep the medical system strong.

Singh directed that an action plan should be prepared in three days for the prevention and treatment of this disease.

For this, she directed to appoint a nodal officer at the district and medical college level and to form a rapid response team at the division and district level. An effective monitoring of availability of beds, oxygen, testing, medicines, treatment, human resources and other health facilities should be ensured in all hospitals. Since there have been more cases of respiratory diseases in children in China, adequate arrangements for treatment should be made in paediatric units and medicine departments.

She added that regular reviews will also be conducted at the district and state level regarding this disease.

The Additional Chief Secretary directed that random sampling of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) patients admitted in big medical institutions at the state and district level should be done and their samples should be sent to labs located in Jaipur and Jodhpur.

Like Covid-19 patients, she also directed for daily reporting of ILI and SARI patients on the IHIP portal.

Singh said that children, elderly people, pregnant women and co-morbid patients are more prone to infection. Therefore, from the point of view of safety, the general public should be made aware to adopt necessary measures.

The Additional Chief Secretary also gave instructions to organise a mock drill on Wednesday in view of the availability of health facilities in the medical institutions of the state.

During this mock drill, monitoring of beds, tests, medicines, ambulances, human resources and essential equipment etc. will be done.

The mock drill will range from hospitals attached to medical colleges to primary health centers.

Singh said that the advisory issued by the government regarding prevention of this disease and the guidelines issued by the Medical Department should be followed.

Mission Director of National Health Mission, Dr Jitendra Kumar Soni said that since it is an infectious disease, separate ambulances should be earmarked for its patients so that the infection does not spread to other patients.