Maharashtra, Punjab, C'garh: Govt points out gaps in Covid containment strategy

The Centre on Sunday wrote to Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Punjab outlining feedback shared by the 50 high-level public health teams, deployed in these states witnessing a spike in coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases, saying they need to ramp up measures to tackle the pandemic.

Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan requested the health secretaries of the three states to implement the suggestions shared by the teams in order to check the sudden surge of Covid-19 cases. The public health teams, which are working with the administration of those districts with a high caseload, have highlighted issues related to testing, hospital infrastructure, containment operations, vaccination progress and Covid-19 appropriate behaviour.

Maharashtra

The central teams in Maharashtra reported that testing capacities in at least eight districts are overwhelmed. Satara, Bhandara, Palghar, Amrawati, Jalna, Nanded, Buldhana and Latur are delaying reporting of test results due to this. The teams pointed out that resistance to testing was also observed in Bhandara. The district is also reporting a large number of cases from outside containment zones.

All the 30 teams deployed in Maharashtra reported that there was reluctance towards following Covid-19 appropriate behaviour. It suggested the government increase efforts to strictly enforce adherence to Covid-19 preventive measures.

Containment operations in Satara, Sangli and Aurangabad districts were not up to the standard while contact tracing operations in Buldhana, Satara, Aurangabad and Nanded were ‘suboptimal.’ Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Nagpur and Nandurbar districts have reported a high occupancy of hospital beds while Aurangabad is depending on neighbouring districts for treatment of its critical patients. The teams have urged the district administration to address hospitalization related issues on a priority basis.

Aurangabad, Nandurabar, Yawatmal, Satara, Palghar, Jalgoan and Jalna districts have reported an acute shortage of healthcare workers. The Centre’s teams have advised the hiring of contractual workers to address these issues. Pune along with Bhandara. Palghar and Osmanabad are facing medical oxygen supply issues while Satara and Latur have malfunctioning ventilators affecting patients.

Chhattisgarh

Chhattisgarh’s Korba, Durg and Balod districts are facing a shortage of RT-PCR testing facilities, the central team highlighted, which in turn has led to increased testing turnaround time. These three districts are also witnessing high hospital bed occupancy rates. According to the data shared by the central team, all ICU beds in these districts are currently occupied and the central team has suggested the state government help the district administration ramp up hospital infrastructure in these districts. The Centre team also highlighted that Korba is experiencing a shortage of Remdesivir.

Durg, Jashpur and Rajnandangaon districts have also reported a shortage of healthcare workers. The central team also highlighted the lack of Covid-19 appropriate behaviour in Rajnandangaon. The team also expressed concern regarding containment strategies in Raipur and Jashpur. It also highlighted that there were attacks on healthcare workers at Raipur’s Dhaneli village and observed resistance to containment measures as well as Covid-19 testing. It also recommended that teams vaccinating people in Balod and Korba districts go through a refresher training course.

Punjab

The teams deployed in Punjab said that Patiala and Ludhiana were vaccinating people against Covid-19 at a slower pace and asked the government to address this issue on priority. Both districts were also lagging behind in terms of contact tracing according to the letter while the rate of testing in Patiala has also dropped. The teams pointed out that SAS Nagar and Rupnagar districts have no dedicated Covid-19 hospital. The latter also does not have a dedicated RT-PCR testing laboratory. Rupnagar’s hospitals are also facing a shortage in terms of manpower due to which ventilators in these hospitals are not being optimally utilised. Patiala and SAS Nagar are also witnessing a shortage in terms of healthcare workers.

They have also asked the district administration to prioritise addressing hospital infrastructure in SAS Nagar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana as hospital bed occupancy rates continue to rise due to the rise in the number of coronavirus disease cases.