Karnataka forms district-level expert panels to beat imminent third Covid-19 wav

The government said the district-level Technical Expert Committees were being formed on the recommendation of experts based on experience from the first two waves of the pandemic.

Apprehending a third wave of the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease that might strike the state later this year, the Karnataka government on Monday ordered the setting up of expert committees at the district level that would provide technical guidance to local administrations.

Students undergo temperature scanning as they arrive to attend classes at a school that was reopened in Chikmagalur, Karnataka.

Issuing a notification, the government said the district-level Covid-19 Technical Expert Committees (TEC) were being formed on the recommendation of the state Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) based on experience from the first two waves of the pandemic. As anticipated by experts, the third wave may hit the country in October and November this year.

The notification was issued by additional chief secretary of the health and family welfare department, Jawaid Akhtar. The district-level panels will pursue the guidelines issued by central and state governments, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), AllMS-New Delhi, WHO and other organisations on a regular basis, and will regularly interact with the state TAC and function under its overall guidance.

Each committee will have senior specialists in public health and medicine, district surveillance officer (DSO), senior pulmonologists, physicians/intensivists, pediatricians, obstetricians, microbiologists, medical officer-WHO, and a senior Ayush physician as its members. The committee will also have a district health and family welfare officer and district surgeon as special invitees.

According to the notification, the Committee shall meet on a regular basis, at least fortnightly, and based on the need may meet more frequently, and a copy of the proceedings shall be sent to commissioner, health and family welfare services, Bengaluru, through the deputy commissioner.

It will review the data at the district level and compare it with other districts, state, and national level on a continual basis, and shall help the district administration by using the information obtained locally and facilitate public health actions and containment measures. The TEC shall guide the district administration to make decisions that are in consonance with guidelines of the state and the country, it added.

The TAC constituted at the state level will lay down the activities to be taken up and will handhold the District TECs in their functioning.

(With agency inputs)