Amid rising cases of COVID-19 and seasonal influenza, the federal government is planning a nationwide mock drill on April 10 and 11 to take stock of hospital preparedness.
According to a joint advisory issued by the Union Health Ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on March 25, each private and non-private well being services in all of the districts are anticipated to take part in the train aimed toward taking stock of availability of medicines, hospital beds, medical tools and medical oxygen.
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“The exact details of the mock drill shall be communicated to the States in the virtual meeting scheduled on March 27,” the advisory said.
The joint advisory highlighted that in the previous a number of weeks, COVID-19 testing has declined in some States and the present testing ranges are inadequate as in contrast to the requirements prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO), i.e 140 assessments per million.
Testing on the ranges of districts and blocks additionally varies, with some States closely relying on the much less delicate fast antigen assessments. “Hence it is critical to maintain optimum testing for COVID-19, equitably distributed (with suitable modifications to address emergence of new cluster of Covid cases) across the States. This is especially important to identify any emerging hotspots and take pre-emptive steps to curb virus transmission,” it said.
The joint advisory is in continuation of the Union Health Ministry’s earlier communications dated March 10 and 16 on the difficulty of seasonal circulation of pan-respiratory pathogens in the nation in addition to public well being response to COVID-19 in States and Union Territories.
The advisory signed by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and Director General of ICMR Dr. Rajiv Bahl said {that a} gradual however sustained enhance in trajectory of COVID-19 cases in the nation is being witnessed since mid-February.
As on date, most of the lively COVID-19 cases in the nation are largely being reported by a number of States equivalent to Kerala (26.4%), Maharashtra (21.7%), Gujarat (13.9%), Karnataka (8.6%) and Tamil Nadu (6.3%).
“While the rates of hospitalisation and death due to the disease remain low, largely because of the significant coverage achieved in terms of COVID-19 vaccination rates by all States and UTs, this gradual rise in cases needs reinvigorated public health actions to contain the surge,” the advisory stated.
The States and UTs have been requested too hold a detailed watch on the evolving etiologies (causes of ailments) of Influenza Like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) cases, including India often sees a seasonal rise in Influenza cases from January to March and once more from August to October.
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Currently, probably the most outstanding subtypes of Influenza in circulation in the nation appear to be Influenza A (H1N1) and Influenza A (H3N2). “As you may be aware, COVID-19 and Influenza share a number of similarities in terms of mode of transmission, high risk population, clinical signs and symptoms.
“While this will likely current a medical dilemma for the attending docs in phrases of prognosis, this additionally renders each these ailments simply preventable by following easy public well being measures equivalent to avoiding overcrowded and poorly ventilated settings, utilizing handkerchief/tissue whereas sneezing or coughing, sporting a masks in crowded and closed settings, sustaining hand hygiene, avoiding spitting in public locations, and many others,” the advisory mentioned.
The Union Ministry of Health has already issued detailed guidelines for management of co-infection of COVID-19 with other seasonal epidemic prone diseases.
All States and UTs have been advised to disseminate these guidelines to all health facilities and healthcare workers within the State to help in clinical case management.
“Under Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), States and District IDSP items want to intently observe the development of ILI/SARI, monitor the proportion of SARI cases amongst all ILI and SARI cases, and refer adequate quantity of samples for testing for Influenza and SARS-CoV-2,” the joint advisory stated.
It would also be helpful for all States and UTS to undertake re-orientation of frontline health workers on epidemiological case definitions to help early diagnosis and prompt treatment.
The advisory stated in order to limit transmission of these diseases, it is important to raise community awareness regarding adherence to respiratory and hand hygiene particularly, avoiding overcrowded and poorly ventilated settings particularly by co-morbid, wearing of masks by doctors, paramedics and other healthcare works as well as patients and their attendants within health care facilities.
“It would even be helpful to take stock of hospital preparedness together with medication, beds together with ICU beds, medical tools, medical oxygen, capability constructing of human useful resource on present tips in addition to vaccination protection. To this impact, a nationwide mock drill is being deliberate on tenth and eleventh April, 2023, whereby well being services (each private and non-private) from all districts are anticipated to take part,” the joint advisory learn.
