Dr Vardhan reviews COVID-19 preparedness in HP, U'khand, J-K, Ladakh

Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday reviewed the preparedness and containment measures taken for COVID-19 in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and UTs of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

"Appropriate measures are being taken to combat COVID-19. With the cohesive efforts of both Centre and States/UTs, adequately growing numbers of dedicated COVID hospitals, isolation and ICU beds and quarantine centres being identified and developed so far provide us with the assurance that the country is well-prepared to face any eventuality due to COVID-19," Dr Vardhan said.

Dr Vardhan held a meeting via video conference with Girish Chandra Murmu, Lieutenant Governor of J-K, RK Mathur, Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, Trivendra Singh Rawat, Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Jai Ram Thakur, Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, in the presence of Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare.

The meeting was a part of a series of Dr Vardhan's personal interactions with various state Health Ministers and collectors of red zone districts to take stock of preparedness and measures for the management of COVID-19 in States/UTs.

In view of the surge of returning migrant labourers, the Health Minister said: "States/UTs need to focus on more effective surveillance, contact tracing, adequate testing and timely treatment of all the returnees. This also includes the ones that shall be returning from abroad."

He also suggested that the downloading of Aarogya Setu should be made compulsory for all returnees for better contact surveillance and suitable medical interventions.

According to an official statement, Dr Vardhan also stressed upon ramping up the surveillance for Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI)/Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) in the affected and non-affected districts.

He appreciated the work done for SARI/ILI surveillance, and the work undertaken by the IDSP for contact tracing and monitoring in Uttarakhand.

The UT of Ladakh stated that they have started mobile medical vans to reach far-flung areas to provide non-COVID essential services.

Dr Vardhan pointed out that as the usage of tobacco is fairly high in Ladakh, spitting in public places needs to be banned as per the guidelines issued earlier.

"It was reiterated to the States that attention needs to be accorded to the provisioning of non-COVID essential health services regarding immunisation drives, TB case finding and treatment, providing blood transfusion for dialysis patients, treatment of cancer patients, ANC of pregnant women, etc.," the statement added.

It was also stated that the Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centres could be used for screening for hypertension, diabetes and three types of cancers. States/UTs have been advised to keep adequate stock of essential medicines.

( With inputs from ANI )