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Delhi: 31 community Covid care centres identified, to add 541 beds
New Delhi:District administrations on Monday identified at least 31 community Covid care centres as on Monday that would add 541 oxygenated beds to the city’s Covid health infrastructure
New Delhi:District administrations on Monday identified at least 31 community Covid care centres as on Monday that would add 541 oxygenated beds to the city’s Covid health infrastructure. This comes two days after Delhi lieutenant governor Anil Baijal asked all district magistrates (DMs) to arrange oxygenated beds in residential colonies by roping in resident welfare associations (RWAs).
“The response has been quite positive so far as DMs have identified 31 such sites with a total bed capacity of 541 as on Monday. Of these, at least 6 sites comprising 57 beds were opened and made operational on Monday itself. All the remaining sites will be operational by Tuesday,” said a senior government official involved in the project.
The official added that the Central government has also taken note of this model and is likely to advise other states to do the same as well.
On Saturday, the L-G had asked all 11 DMs to identify and create small facilities at the RWA level where a willing doctor from the local community could supervise the provision of oxygen to needy patients in the colony with an aim of assisting them in the critical period when their SpO2 levels start falling. “Such cases could then be addressed without going to hospitals that are already overburdened with more serious patients,” said a senior government official who attended the meeting the L-G and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had with all DMs.
On Sunday, the Delhi government issued guidelines for gated residential complexes, which want to set up Covid care centres and isolation facilities. The guidelines 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%.
