Door-to- door survey starts in Kalanaur to identify people with comorbidities

Focus will be on detection of non-communicable diseases in a bid to check the spread of Covid-19 infection

To check the spread of Covid-19 infection, , the health department on Monday started a door-to- door survey in Kalanaur block of Gurdaspur district to identify people with comorbidities, especially non-communicable diseases.

An elderly woman being checked at Kalanaur in Gurdaspur district.

Twenty two medical teams will conduct the survey, said officials.

Kalanaur senior medical officer Dr Lakhwinder Singh Athwal said, “People with diseases like hypertension and mellitus diabetes are more prone to get infected with the virus as they have a low immunity. We observed that non-communicable diseases are a major factor behind Covid deaths. We launched this campaign to put such people on medication in time.”

Dr Athwal added, “Our mass media wing is creating awareness about the impact of the virus on those with comorbidities. We are appealing to the public to contact health facilities in case they have any symptoms.”

He added, “On day 1, we identified 41 persons with non-communicable diseases and we started their medication immediately. Unfortunately, majority of them did not know they had any complication. Since November 2020, we have identified 1,284 patients of mellitus diabetes and 752 patients of hypertension.