Local doctor to take charge of Covid-19 centres in societies

The care centres in societies may be more acceptable to the residents and will help reduce the burden on existing facilities, stated Delhi govt guidelines.

The Delhi government on Sunday issued guidelines for gated residential complexes, which want to set up Covid care centres and isolation facilities with the help of resident welfare associations (RWA) and non-government organisations (NGO), noting that such provisions will help reduce the burden on the city’s health care system amid the ongoing surge in infection.

Representational: The guidelines stated that such centres can be set up in community halls, common utility areas and vacant flats which are “location-wise” isolated. (HT photo)

The guidelines, a copy of which HT has seen, state that a doctor residing in the residential area concerned or one engaged by the RWA or NGO should act as the medical officer of such a facility and each patient will have to be clinically assessed for symptoms. The medical officer will also be entrusted with monitoring the health of each patient round the clock, even though there will be routine inspections by district medical officers and surveillance officers, said the guideline document.

The guidelines bar the use of such facilities for patients with moderate and severe symptoms, the elderly, children below the age of 10 years, pregnant women, lactating mothers and patients with comorbidities. The guidelines further said that such facilities cannot allow “intermixing” of suspect and confirmed cases and each of them have to be mandatorily linked to the district surveillance teams and at least one ambulance service provider, the document said.

Further, it states that such centres can be set up in community halls, common utility areas and vacant flats which are “location-wise” isolated.

The centres need to have separate entry and exit passages, adequate ventilation, ACs to be maintained at the range of 24-30 degrees and relative humidity of 40-70%.

There should be separate toilets for suspected and confirmed patients and a mandatory distance of one metre between beds, said the document.

“The community living in gated complexes may like to create Covid care facilities within the residential complex, managed either by RWAs and residential societies, or in collaboration with NGOs. This may be more acceptable to the residents and will help reduce the burden on existing facilities for managing suspect, pre-symptomatic, asymptomatic and very mild cases of Covid-19. The guideline document has been prepared to help RWAs, residential societies and NGOs desirous of establishing a small Covid care facility, a community-based isolation facility within their own resources,” said the guideline document.

Rajiv Kakria, member of an RWA in Greater Kailash-1, which has several gated colonies, said, “It is a welcome move in the light of the current Covid-19 situation in Delhi. But residential societies should not act in haste. They have to ensure that the centres have the primary facilities such as oxygen cylinders and concentrators, adequate number of doctors, nurses and paramedics to monitor health and the equipment. The finances should be in place as once such a centre is created, it cannot be abandoned suddenly due to lack of funds.”