States Conduct Covid Drills At Hospitals To Check On Beds, Oxygen Cylinders, Manpower Amid Covid Surge Alarm - Key Points

Several states including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh carried out Covid drills at hospitals to ensure readiness in terms of oxygen support and ICU beds, among other preparedness measures.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya at Safdarjung hospital during a nationwide mock drill for Covid-19 preparedness in New Delhi

Source : PTI

In response to the Covid alarm, all health facilities across the country today conducted mock drills to check the level of their preparedness to deal with any eventualities related to Covid-19. 

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya visited the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi to monitor the drill. “To make sure there isn’t a Covid surge in the country, PM [Narendra] Modi has asked us to be careful. The government is also preparing, if the Covid cases increase. Today mock drills are conducted across covid hospitals in the country to make sure people get proper treatment,” he told the news agency ANI.

According to data that was updated on Tuesday by the Union Health Ministry, India experienced a single-day increase of 157 coronavirus infections while the number of active cases marginally decreased to 3,421. The total number of cases of Covid has now gone up to 4.46 crore (4,46,77,459) in the country.

Here are the key points-

- Several states including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh carried out Covid drills at various hospitals to ensure readiness in terms of oxygen support and ICU beds, among other preparedness measures.

- The exercise was held to focus on factors like the number of health facilities in each district, the capacity of isolation beds, oxygen-supported beds, ICU beds, ventilator-supported beds, and the best number of doctors, nurses, paramedics, AYUSH doctors, and other frontline workers, such as ASHA and Anganwadi workers.

- The drill also focused on human resource capacity, such as the availability of Advanced and Basic Life Support (ALS/BLS) ambulances, testing equipment and reagents, and essential drugs, as well as healthcare professionals trained in ventilatory management protocols for severe cases.

- The Delhi government has approved a budget of Rs 104 crores for hospitals to buy general medicines as part of preparations to deal with any Covid emergency.

- Delhi's residents will also be able to access real-time data on the availability of beds, oxygen cylinders and ventilators on a government portal, starting today, news agency PTI quoted officials as saying.

- The Union Health Ministry on Saturday emphasized that necessary public health measures must be implemented in all states and UTs to meet any exigencies, citing the surge in COVID-19 trajectory in many countries around the world.

- In a letter to states, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan stated, "Preparedness of COVID-19 health facilities is crucial to ensure that states and districts are in a state of readiness to meet increase in clinical care needs due to any spurt in cases." He stated, "The objective of this exercise is to ensure operational readiness of these health facilities for management of COVID-19."