E-Paper
Amid surge in cases, Kashi admn distributing free Covid medicine kits
When Vandana Devi (30), a resident of Basani in Badagaon area of Varanasi who was having corona-like symptoms of cough, cold and fever for the past few days, heard that Covid medicines were given free-of-cost at the Primary Health Centre (PHC) she didn’t wasted a moment to get the same
When Vandana Devi (30), a resident of Basani in Badagaon area of Varanasi who was having corona-like symptoms of cough, cold and fever for the past few days, heard that Covid medicines were given free-of-cost at the Primary Health Centre (PHC) she didn’t wasted a moment to get the same.
“I immediately visited the Badagaon PHC where the doctor gave me the Covid kit having several drugs. He also told me in detail how to take these medicines,” she said.
Similarly, another local Deepak Kumar (22), also having Covid symptoms got the free kit at Badagaon PHC.
The Covid kit (having all necessary drugs for treatment of Covid) distribution is part of district administration’s drive to ensure that symptomatic people or those waiting for their Covid test report in rural and urban areas get the medication as soon as possible.
The step has been taken in the wake of rapid surge in corona cases in the district during the second wave. The temple city so far has over 12,000 actives Covid cases and has reported over 600 fatalities ever since the outbreak of the pandemic.
District magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said in the drive, which was started from May 1, so far about 55,000 kits have been distributed in both urban and rural areas.
“While 25,000 kits have been distributed in urban areas through urban PHCs and Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) 30,563 kits have been dispensed in rural pockets through PHCs and community health centres (CHCs),” he added.
Elaborating about the kit, additional chief medical officer (ACMO) Dr Sanjay Rai said it comprises medicines like Azithromycin, Ivermectin, Paracetamol, pills of vitamin D-3, vitamin C, zinc and B Complex.
“It is being distributed among suspected Covid patients and those with symptoms of Covid-19. Over 40 teams, including 20 Rapid Response Teams, several teams of Asha workers, are deployed in rural pockets for distributing the kits. Heath staff at PHcs have also been roped in to distribute the kits,” Rai said.
He added that “While using public address system, the teams ask the locals to collect the kits from the RRTs or from the nearest health centre in their respective area between 8am and 5pm daily.”
The district has 32 PHCs and nine CHCs.
Medical officer in charge, PHC, Badagaon, Dr Sher Mohammad said around 9000 medical kits have been distributed in the villages in the area in the last one week.
However, Satyanarayan Patel, a resident of Sinnghpur village in nearby Sarnath area, said he hasn’t got the Covid kit so far.
Another resident of Nai Bazar area in Sarnath area Pappu Mishra said the Rapid Response Team was yet to visit his locality.
