Centre deputes medical teams to 3 Northeast states reporting high COVID-19 cases

Agartala: In a move to strengthen efforts to various states and union territories in their fight against the novel coronavirus, the Centre has deputed central doctors’ teams to six states, including three from the Northeast, which have reported high number of COVID-19 cases.

The Centre has deputed multi-disciplinary teams to Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Manipur in view of the increased number of COVID-19 cases being reported by these states.

Teams will be supporting them in the state’s efforts for targeted COVID response and management, and effectively tackling the pandemic.

Speaking with EastMojo, COVID-19 nodal officer Dr Deep Debbarma confirmed the report and said that a team of doctors will be visiting the state to review the preparedness and assist us in fighting the virus.

“The central doctors’ team will be visiting the state. However, no official communication has been made yet. We are waiting for the team to visit and help us prepare better,” Debbarma said.

A press statement issued by the ministry of health informed that the union government has been leading the fight against the global pandemic with a ‘Whole of Government’ and ‘Whole of Society’ approach.

“As an ongoing effort to strengthen efforts of various State/UT Governments for COVID management, the Central Government has been deputing Central teams from time to time to visit various states/UTs,” the press statement read.

The statement also cited these teams interacting with the state/UT authorities and getting a first-hand understanding of the challenges and issues being faced by them so as to strengthen their ongoing activities and remove bottlenecks, if any.

The team to Manipur will be led by Dr L Swasticharan, Add. DDG & director EMR; team to Arunachal pradesh will be led by Dr Sanjay Sadhukhan, professor AIIH & PH; for Tripura Dr RN Sinha Dir professor, AIIH&PH; for Kerala Dr Ruchi Jain, public health specialist Gr. II, RoHFW; for Odisha Dr A Dan, public health specialist AIIH & PH and for Chhattisgarh Dr Dibakar Sahu, Assistant professor, AIIMS Raipur.

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“The two-member high level team in these states consists of a clinician and a public health expert. The teams will visit the states immediately and monitor the overall implementation of COVID-19 management, especially in testing, including surveillance and containment operations, COVID appropriate behaviour and its enforcement; availability of hospital beds, sufficient logistics including ambulances, ventilators, medical oxygen etc., and COVID-19 vaccination progress. The teams will monitor the situation and also suggest remedial actions,” the press statement reads.

The central teams will assess the situation and suggest remedial actions on public health activities to the respective state governments. The copy of the report will also be provided to the Union health ministry at the end of the visit.

Meanwhile, Tripura so far has reported 66,220 COVID-19 cases, of which 62,067 persons have recovered leaving 3,407 active cases. The state has also reported 680 COVID-19 deaths.