M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, June 21: A day after the order by Jharkhand Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh regarding the Covid curbs and ease, the Palamu Civil Surgeon Palamu Dr Anil Kumar held a press briefing on the Covid-19 resurfacing across the state and the country as well.
The civil surgeon started with the topic of oxygen. The two O2 plants one each at Daltonganj and Japla would be ‘mock tested’ to see if everything is right with them. “We will recheck its production and flow,” he said.
Talking about the ventilators, the CS said that they are to be checked for their functionality. He stressed on the necessity of training more personnel to handle the ventilators.
There are 22 ventilators in Palamu, according to the district programme manager Deepak Gupta.
The civil surgeon’s next stopover was the upkeep of the Covid care centres and dedicated Covid care centre. “It is almost a year now when we have not seen hospitalization of a person down with Covid. And hence our covid care centres etc must be again in order like electricity choke free toilet, cobweb clean ceiling, walls and windows etc. The centres are to be spruced up,” he reiterated.
It is to be noted that the O2 plants, one each coming up at Lesliganj and Panki, are in limbo. The agency which was to install it and make it functional has left both the sites and has disappeared.
Dr Anil said the issue is under the cognizance of Palamu DC Shashi Ranjan.
Dr Anil Kumar while talking used a term gap analysis several times. He said gap analysis is what is deficient in the Covid management and what is available. If the gap between what is deficient and what is available is wide, then it has to be plugged in sooner than later.
All ANMs who did a good job during the Covid pandemic even the ward boys and others are to undergo training just for a refresher.
The recently elected rural civic body members will be roped in to fight the menace of the Covid as the way its number of cases is spiralling in some states portends no good for Jharkhand and Palamu.
“As of now, Palamu has a zero active case of Covid, but no one knows when zero gets into a numerical digit here,” reminded the CS.
He said Palamu retains its high position in the state in the matter of Covid vaccination in many categories but when it comes to precaution dose percentage, Palamu is stuck up with just 3 percent.
District epidemiologist Dr Anup Kumar Singh said out of 1,97,000 people in the 60+ age group, only 5,700 people have taken the precaution dose which comes to just 3 percent.
Civil surgeon Dr Anil Kumar said this is sad and worrisome. The seniors should come forward and take their precaution dose.
He went on to say that he and his team do not know how to deal with people in the age group of 18 to 59 who insist on taking their precaution dose at the government vaccination centre.
The precaution dose for this age group is no longer free or available at the government vaccination centre and is to be only bought at the private Covid vaccination centre. Unfortunately, no private hospital in Palamu is rendering this service of the precaution dose for a price.
Apart from the CS, Medical superintendent Dr Dilip Kr Singh and DPM Deepak Gupta were present in the press briefing today.
