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Telangana health team visits Kerala to study how state tackled coronavirus
Team members met state health minister K K Shailaja and visited some hospitals and attended regular review meetings at the state capital.
With the country bracing itself to meet the coronavirus threat, many states have approached Kerala which effectively treated the first three patients of the country and contained the secondary infection.
A team from Telangana comprising doctors and health officials reached the state on Friday to study the state’s monitoring and surveillance system. Two other states-- Odisha and Madhya Pradesh-- will also send their teams to the state soon, a senior health ministry official said.
Team members later met state health minister K K Shailaja and visited some hospitals and attended regular review meetings at the state capital. During the discussion, state health officials explained the health protocol, surveillance and contact raising methods to them.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has already asked all states to follow the Kerala model in tackling the virus. Union cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba has also lauded the state’s efforts in containing the virus.
The first three cases of coronavirus in the country were reported in the state and all three, students who had returned from China, were discharged after being fully cured. Effective isolation, monitoring mechanism and strict adherence to guidelines floated during the Nipah virus outbreak two years ago helped the state to tide over the crisis.
“We are happy to share our experience and strategy with other states. Though there is some let up in the situation we are maintaining strict alert. We are holding review meetings every day and video conferences with all district medical officers,” said Shailaja adding it was too early for the state to lower guard. She said the state was ready to extend any help to other states in tackling the situation.
Kerala was in battle-mode after the detection of the first case on January 30. At least 200 isolation wards were ready in a few days and experts imparted training to health workers for barrier nursing. The state’s preparedness was lauded by all and that really helped contain the secondary infection.
Meanwhile Kerala Mata Amritanandamai has stopped giving ‘darshan’ to devotees, ‘mutt’ officials said. Foreigners form a big part of teeming devotees and the state health ministry has advised the ‘mutt’ to put in place some restrictions. Usually the Amma, as Amritanandamai is known, hugs devotees and blesses them.
The health ministry advisory came in the light of some incidents in South Korea. There are reports from Seoul that a big religious gathering spiked the infection in the country. After China, South Korea and Iran are the worst affected now, statistics show.
