Covid Preparedness: Union Health Secy Asks States, UTs To Conduct Mock Drills On Dec 27

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan writes to state and territorial health secretaries on December 27 about conducting practice drills at all health facilities across the country.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote to state and union territorial health secretaries on Saturday about holding mock drills on December 27 at all health institutions (including recognised COVID-dedicated health facilities) across the country, news agency ANI posted the letter on Twitter. 

"Taking note of the surge in COVID-19 trajectory in many countries around the world, it is necessary that in all States/UTS requisite public health measures are put in place to meet any exigencies. Preparedness of COVID-19 health facilities is crucial to ensure that States/Districts are in a state of readiness to meet the increase in clinical care needs due to any spurt in cases," the letter read. 

The letter advised that the drill's main focus be on geographically representative availability of health facilities - covering all districts, bed capacities, optimal availability of human resources, human resource capacity, referral services, testing capacities, and medical oxygen availability. 

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya instructed states and union territories on Friday to conduct a practice drill across all health facilities on December 27 to assess infrastructure readiness, with a particular focus on oxygen plants, ventilators, logistics, and human resources.

"The Centre and states need to work in tandem and in a collaborative spirit, as was done during previous surges for Covid prevention and management," he said during a virtual meeting with health ministers and senior officials of states in light of the recent surge in coronavirus cases in some parts of the world.

The discussion examined the public health system's readiness for Covid containment and management, as well as the immunisation campaign's progress. Along with the ministers, the meeting was attended by state principal secretaries, additional chief secretaries, and information commissioners.

Referring to the high-level review meeting led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, Mandaviya also asked states to be on high alert, maintain full preparedness for Covid management, and maintain their pre-emptive and proactive strategy, according to a statement from the health ministry.

He urged governments to beef up their surveillance systems for whole-genome sequencing of positive case samples in order to track variations via the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) network.