E-Paper
Nodal officers want Ghaziabad to focus on reducing Covid-19 deaths
The nodal officers appointed by the state to oversee the Covid-19 containment measures in Ghaziabad district have asked the district officials to focus on bringing
The nodal officers appointed by the state to oversee the Covid-19 containment measures in Ghaziabad district have asked the district officials to focus on bringing down the death rate of Covid-19 infections which is on the rise since June 1. The nodal officers have been assigned by the chief minister to 11 districts, including Ghaziabad, which have a high incidence of Covid-19 cases.
According to official records, till June 14, Ghaziabad has a total of 625 cases, of which 320 have been recorded since June 1. Of the total 22 deaths due to Covid-19, 18 were in the month of June.
As a result, the death rate in Ghaziabad stands at 3.52%, which is higher than the state average of 2.93% (till June 14). During a meeting on Monday, the two nodal officers for Ghaziabad -- Senthil Pandian C chairman of the power utility board and Dr Anil Chandra, professor of neurosurgery from King George’s Medical University, Lucknow -- directed the Ghaziabad officials to come up with a strategy to reduce deaths due to Covid-19.
“The officials have asked us to undertake a detailed investigation of every death case and provide a detailed report on each such case. This is to help have a better understanding of case and disease management in the future. Further, L1 category Covid hospitals (those treating non-critical patients) are overburdened. Around six patients from a L1 hospital were directly referred to L3 hospitals (facility for critical cases) after their condition deteriorated.They should have been referred to L2 hospitals ( for serious cases),” Dr NK Gupta, chief medical officer (CMO), Ghaziabad, said.
The officials said treatment imparted at L1 hospitals needs to be improved. Of the 22 deaths reported from Ghaziabad, nine have taken place at Ghaziabad hospitals, while 11 others died in Meerut and one each in Noida and Delhi.
The officials also discussed the rising number of cases. About 246 of the 625 cases reported so far have links to Delhi.
“There are 246 cases which are related to patients who have travelled to Delhi or have acquired the infection while undergoing treatment in Delhi. The figure also includes close contacts of such patients. The officials have told us that we need to have 4,000 Covid beds ready in order to deal with the rising number of cases,” CMO added.
The Ghaziabad officials said they would require about 1,300 additional health care professionals, including 240 doctors, 360 staff nurses and about 350 ward staff and an equal number of cleaning staff. The proposal for 4,000 new Covid beds has been chalked out and 13 colleges in the district have been identified where these beds can be set up.
Despite the rising number of Covid-19 cases and deaths, the Ghaziabad district has a good recovery rate with 40% patients recovering in March, 66.66% by the end of April and 76.39% till the end of May. The overall recovery rate at present is 62.72% (till June 14).
Apart from Ghaziabad, nodal officers have been appointed to Gautam Budh Nagar, Meerut, Agra, Firozabad, Kanpur City, Aligarh, Moradabad, Bulandshahr, Jhansi and Basti districts.
“The officers have been issued detailed instructions. They will conduct inspections for better management of hospitals, equipment such as ventilators, oxygen cylinders and PPE kits, besides reviewing cases, implementation of infection prevention protocols and a review of L1, L2 and L3 Covid hospitals,” said Awanish Awasthi, UP’s additional chief secretary (home).
