A medical emergency alert has been issued in Rajasthan due to the outbreak of a mysterious disease in China. To prepare for dealing with similar respiratory illnesses, mock drills are being conducted today in government hospitals across the state, including Sawai Man Singh Hospital in Jaipur. Following the directives from the Health Department, hospitals are conducting these drills.
On Tuesday, ACS Shubhra Singh, the Director of Medical and Health, held a video conference at the Health Building to discuss the prevention of respiratory-related diseases. She instructed medical institutions to conduct mock drills to prepare for dealing with such diseases.
As part of the mock drill, we are monitoring the availability of beds, testing facilities, medicines, ambulances, human resources, and necessary equipment. This includes medical colleges that are connected to hospitals, primary health centres, and beyond. All medical institutions are preparing to make proper arrangements for testing, medicine, treatment, and other necessary resources.
A Rapid Response Team will be formed
ACS Singh has instructed to prepare an action plan within three days to prevent and treat the disease. As a part of this plan, the appointment of a nodal officer at the district and medical college levels and the formation of a Rapid Response Team at the division and district levels have been ordered. She has also directed to monitor the availability of beds, oxygen, testing, medicine, treatment, human resources, and other health facilities in all hospitals.
Patients with difficulty in breathing to send samples
ACS Singh said that recruitment of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) patients will be done by random sampling in big medical institutions at the state and district levels, and their samples will be sent to the laboratories in Jaipur and Jodhpur. Like COVID-19 patients, daily reporting will also be done on the I-LAAP portal for I-LAAP and SARI patients. She stated that there is a higher risk of infection in children, the elderly, and pregnant women. Therefore, awareness should be raised among the general public to adopt necessary measures for prevention.
Separate ambulance signage
Dr. Jitendra Kumar Soni, the Mission Director of the National Health Mission, emphasized that COVID-19 is an infectious disease, and therefore, patients should be transported in ambulances with a special sign to prevent the spread of the virus to other patients. He also directed the authorities to take the necessary action to implement this measure.
