Noida admin reaches out to civil society for help in fight against Covid

The Gautam Budh Nagar administration has asked all residents welfare associations (RWA), apartment owners associations (AOA), village heads and other socially active residents or interested individuals in the district to come forward to and help in the fight against the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease in their respective areas.

Officials said under this initiative, socially active citizens or groups in each residential sector, housing society or village would be encouraged to take on the role of ‘monitoring volunteers’ to help health workers in contact tracing of positive patients and screening processes.

Officials said RWAs and AOAs have been told to buy pulse oximeters (small, handheld devices used to measure oxygen levels in the body) to screen suspected Covid patients.

This is aimed at screening large numbers of people as soon as possible.

“The idea is to detect Covid-positive patients at an early stage and provide them treatment without any delay. Six hundred teams of the district, each of which has two health workers, are engaged in door-to-door screening. We want that RWAs, AOAs, village heads or other interest individuals work together with these health workers in their respective areas so that the job is finished at the earliest,” said Narendra Bhooshan, the Greater Noida authority chief executive officer who is the nodal officer for the Noida district to handle the Covid-19 outbreak.

The Uttar Pradesh government has appointed nodal officers at various levels to work effectively to reduce the death rate and also for better handling of the coronavirus cases across the state.

By Saturday evening, there were a total of 1,303 positive coronavirus cases in the district. The tally includes the 41 new cases reported in past 24 hours.

“With the help of a pulse oximeter, AOA or RWA office-bearers can check the oxygen level of a Covid-suspected person. If the oxygen level is between 95 and 100, it is considered to be normal. However if the oxygen level is below that, coupled with breathlessness, then those persons should get a Covid test done and treatment should be started. With this kind of help, AOAs, RWAs, and the like can play a very crucial role in fighting Covid-19 effectively,’ said Bhooshan.

Residents’ bodies welcomed the move, with some having purchased pulse oximeters and other equipment already.

“We welcome this step by the administration and will support the health teams identify those who need immediate medical help. We will coordinate with the administration accordingly. We have already purchased a pulse oximeter and an oxygen cylinder to help those who need it in the time of crisis. Many AOAs or RWAs have done this,” said Rajiva Singh, president of Noida Federation of AOA, an umbrella body with at least 70 housing societies under its wing.

RWA bodies and social activists, meanwhile, said officials should keep them informed, for best results.

“We are ready to work in coordination with the administration to fight Covid-19. But the administration must keep all RWAs in the loop while taking action related with Covid-19 operations in any given sector,” said NP Singh, president of Gautam Budh Nagar district development RWA, a residents’ body.

“Awareness about Covid-19 is paramount to effectively fight the spread of the disease. And I as a socially active citizen am ready to extend help to the administration to contain the infection’s spread,” said Tikam Singh, a social activist from Sector 135.