Coronavirus: AP CM holds review meeting to check preparedness of village clinics

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday held a review meeting on the prevailing Covid situation and decided to write a letter to the Centre seeking to reduce the gap for administering a 'precautionary dose' from the existing nine months to six months, Chief Minister's Office said in a statement.

The Chief Minister directed the Medical and Health Department to fill the existing vacancies of doctors and para-medical posts by January 26 besides providing accommodation and other necessary facilities to staff members working in the Department in agency areas.

CM held a review meeting on the Covid new variant BF 7 challenge, on the construction of village clinics.

As per the release, CM also asked officials to complete the construction of village clinics by January 26 and provide video conferencing facilities to all teaching hospitals and Primary Health Care Centres (PHCs).

The statement added that the Chief Minister insisted that construction works of all medical colleges including the one proposed at Parvatipuram begin by Jan 26 while procuring a sufficient number of 104 vehicles.

During the review meeting, CM also said that the Aarogyasri Referral App should be made available to all concerned.

When the officials informed him that so far not even a single case of the new variant BF-7 was reported in the state,the chief minister told the officials to be well prepared to meet the challenge, if need be, preparing the SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) to treat Covid cases at village clinics which should have facilities to test and treat the new variant. All Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANMs) and (Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers should be available at village clinics, the statement added.

"The Chief Minister asked the officials to find out the preparedness of all Government hospitals in meeting the BF-7 challenge and this process should be completed by January 5. After preparing the government hospitals, private hospitals also should be asked to prepare for the emerging BF7 challenge," a statement quoting CM said.

"Village clinics, working under the direct control of PHCs, should take complete responsibility for the village concerned, CM said, suggesting that all suspect cases should be thoroughly tested and necessary treatment be provided wherever necessary," the statement added.

Medical and Health Minister Vidadala Rajani, Chief Secretary Dr K.S. Jawahar Reddy, Principal Secretary (Medical and Health) MT Krishna Babu, Secretary (Medical and Health) GS Naveen Kumar, Commissioner (Family Welfare) J. Niwas, Aarogyasri CEO Harindra Prasad and Andhra Pradesh MSIDC MD and VC D. Muralidhara Reddy were among those present at the review meeting.

( With inputs from ANI )