Bhubaneswar: In order to deal with any kind of outbreak of COVID-19 especially in the most vulnerable rural areas, the Odisha government on Saturday informed that it has ramped up health facilities at the grassroots level by setting up as many as 6,939 temporary medical centres with total bed capacity of 1, 62,142 across 6798 gram panchayats (GPs) in the State.
State government’s COVID19 spokesperson Subroto Bagchi during his routine media briefing today said said Rs 5 lakh from GP fund has been given to open COVID-19 special temporary medical centre in every Gram Panchayat.
Similarly, each Community Health Centre (CHC) and Primary health Centre (PHC) have been provided with Rs 10 lakh and Rs 5 lakh respectively for arrangement of basic facilities and sanitation.
The Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Department has also undertaken massive drive for sensitisation and pro-active dissemination of awareness in rural areas involving elected representatives and functionaries to contain the spread of coronavirus infection. During the drive from March 19 to March 21, members of Gram Panchayats, Pandhayat Samitis and Zilla Parisadas were sensitized.
In order to ramp up COVID-19 exclusive hospitals in the State, a tripartite MoU has been signed between Collector, Jagatsinghpur, CDMO, Jagatsinghpur and Paradeep Port Trust for setting up of a dedicated COVID-19 Health Care Centre to strengthen the fight against COVID-19. The facility will be operational from 13th April.
Speaking on the occasion, NHM Director Shalini Pandit informed that a total of 12 COVID-19 patients out of 50 positive cases in the State have so far recovered from the disease. While two had recovered earlier, 10 persons recovered yesterday.
Speaking about COVID19 diagnosis, the officials said that high throughput COBAS machine has been commissioned at RMRC for enhancing the testing capacity. Similarly, MKCG (Berhampur) and IGH (Rourkela) will undertake testing soon. Besides, ILS (Institute of Life Sciences) which has got the permission from the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, will commence testing from next week.
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Informing about safety of health professionals involved in the treatment of COVID19 patients, the officials said that there is enough stock of sanitizer, triple-layer surgical mask, N-95 mask and other protective gears for all health care personnel working in government hospitals.
Similarly, capacity building of Medical Personnel for COVID-19 has been strengthened. About 416 faculties and staff of SCB and 72 of MKCG have been given critical care training for COVID-19. Around 1600 Medical Officers and Staff of Directorate of AYUSH have been trained in basic COVID-19 management. Zoom Training of medical fraternity of all COVID Hospitals is being carried on. 906 persons of four Dental Colleges including all Faculties, 3rd and final year students have been trained on basic COVID-19 management. As on 10th April, 1,17,279 ASHAs and AWWs have been given basic training.
On the direction of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, financial assistance of Rs 1500 to all registered construction workers is being given. Door to door distribution is being carried on. Labour Commissioner of Odisha has clarified that no application for such assistance is required. Beneficiaries have been advised to complain to police Station or to Administration against involvement of any broker/middleman in this regard.
Social Security Assistance, ration along with special food security allowances to the eligible beneficiaries in every GP have been distributed. Free cooked food is being distributed in GPs and about 6944 Self Help Groups are actively involved in this arrangement adhering to the rules of Social Distancing and 35,08,096 persons have been provided cooked food till 10th April.
Food and accommodation along with health facilities have been ensured through 2532 camps for around 77,000 'Guest Workers'. These workers are from various states of the country. Any complaint received through Shramik Sahayata Call Centre-18003456703 is being addressed promptly.
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Today, 3, 35,662 destitute and helpless persons have been provided with food in 5433 Gram Panchayats. Similarly, in 114 ULBs 33,645 persons have been provided with food.
Speaking about enforcement of lockdown, the officials informed that 170 cases have been registered by the police in the State for violations of different regulations and guidelines related to COVID-19 from April 10 morning to April 11 morning,.While 163 cases have been registered for violation of lockdown, four cases for rumour mongering and three for other issues. As many as 100 persons have been arrested for different violations by the police. Till date 67 cases have been registered in the state for rumour mongering.
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