The Odisha government on Tuesday directed all Covid-19 hospitals in the state to set up 24X7 dedicated helpdesks to help family members of Covid-19 patients with information on the health status of the patients.
The Health and Family Welfare department in a fresh guideline said the helpdesk should have a dedicated toll free number with wide notifications. “The helpdesk should be manned with sufficient people to attend all calls round the clock in shift-wise manner. Apart from telephonic communication, the hospitals should use social media applications like WhatsApp to communicate the voice and pictures of the patient to the attendants of the patient. A dedicated conference room may be set up outside the Covid-19 facility with provision of TV and Cameras which can be connected with CCTVs installed inside the facilities so that the attendant can see the patient and talk with him/her,” the department notification said.
The state government’s notification came two days after BJP Lok Sabha MP from Bargarh, Suresh Pujari urged the Centre to take charge of Covid-19 management in Odisha citing that the state government has utterly failed in testing, tracing and treatment of patients.
Participating in a debate on the Covid-19 situation in the country in the Lok Sabha on Sunday, Pujari who recovered from Covid-19 infection recently, alleged that a large number of infected people are dying due to lack of treatment as the health system has collapsed. Pujari had urged the health ministry to make arrangements for providing information about the health condition of Covid-19 patients under treatment to their family members on a daily basis as they have no access to hospitals.
{{/usCountry}}Participating in a debate on the Covid-19 situation in the country in the Lok Sabha on Sunday, Pujari who recovered from Covid-19 infection recently, alleged that a large number of infected people are dying due to lack of treatment as the health system has collapsed. Pujari had urged the health ministry to make arrangements for providing information about the health condition of Covid-19 patients under treatment to their family members on a daily basis as they have no access to hospitals.
{{/usCountry}}The health department said steps should be taken to collect and record the contact numbers of the patient at the time of admission and even if not inquired by the attendant of the patient, a general information of the condition of the patient needed to be communicated as a SMS or WhatsApp message to the attendant of the patient every day at least once.
It warned that non-functioning of the helpdesk would attract action against the erring hospital.