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Work to bring down Covid mortality rate in Punjab, new chief secy tells DCs
She also said that the state government was working to increase the corona testing capacity to 20,000 per day.
Punjab chief secretary Vini Mahajan on Sunday asked the deputy commissioners to take all steps possible to arrest the mortality rate in the state and bring it down from the current 2.4%.
The effort should be on saving every Punjabi’s life amid the pandemic, she said while directing the DCs to take special care of critical patients. She also told them to take help of the state expert group, chaired by Dr KK Talwar, and international and national experts.
Reviewing the state’s preparedness to contain the further spread of the deadly disease at her maiden meeting with the DCs after taking over as the chief secretary, Mahajan expressed concern over the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in the state and said it was the duty of every DC to go the extra mile to ensure proper surveillance and arrest the mortality rate, while sending as many cured patients as possible to their homes.
During the meeting held through videoconferencing, she instructed the DCs to allow Covid patients to go to private hospitals at their own expense if they so wished. She also said the state government was working to increase the corona testing capacity to 20,000 per day, with the four new testing labs approved recently by the state government expected to be operational soon.
The Chief Secretary said that the Deputy Commissioners should ensure that every resident of Punjab should wear the mask and follow the instructions issued by the government. Mahajan said that it is critical to avoid large gatherings especially in closed spaces, and masks must invariably be worn in such situations. “Not wearing mask, not keeping social distance or spitting in public are anti-social acts,” she said, urging the DCs to continue to appeal to the people to be vigilant, take precautionary measures and follow the advice of health experts.
Health department officials apprised during the meeting that there is no shortage of PPE kits and N-95 masks in the state.
Dr KK Talwar, Dr Raj Bahadur and Dr Rajesh Kumar also shared crucial information on steps needed to contain the spread of disease. The meeting was attended by additional chief secretary, health, Anurag Aggarwal, principal secretary, finance, KAP Sinha, principal secretary, medical education and research DK Tewari, principal secretary to the chief minister, Tejveer Singh, principal secretary water supply and sanitation, Jaspreet Talwar and secretary, health, Kumar Rahul
