UP plans death audit of corona casualties

With six more deaths reported on Wednesday, the toll of Covid-19 patients in UP reached 11 from five on Monday.

The Uttar Pradesh health department has decided to conduct death audit of Covid-19 patients.

With six more deaths reported on Wednesday, the toll of Covid-19 patients in UP reached 11 from five on Monday.

Addressing a press conference, principal secretary, health and family welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad said medical experts would prepare a case file of all Covid-19 patients who died in hospitals.

The experts will suggest medical procedures that should have been taken by the doctors to save patients.

The health department will brief doctors of government and private hospitals about the findings of the audit, which will assist them in taking required measures to protect Covid-19 patients, he said.

Out of 727 Covid-19 positive cases reported in the state till Wednesday, 55 patients have been discharged from the hospitals after recovery while 11 have died.

Majority of the deceased were old and suffered from another disease, including diabetes, kidney, liver or heart ailments.

To trace the suspected Covid-19 positive cases across the state the health department has amended its sample collection and test strategy. Now, the districts that are coronavirus free will also have to send minimum 20 samples to the laboratories daily. The districts in which more than 50 positive cases have been reported will have to send 200 samples for laboratory test.

The sample test will assist the health department in tracking the positive cases fast and admit them in hospitals for treatment.

It will also assist the department in checking the spread of the disease, he said.

The health department has already prepared a plan to test minimum 2,000 samples daily.

On Tuesday, 2,433 samples were tested in the laboratories across the state and another 2,400 samples were sent to the laboratories as well, he said.

The health department has also started pool testing of samples.

On Tuesday, samples from Agra were sent for pool testing to the laboratory located in KGMU, he said.

In a study conducted by the health department it was found that 17% of corona patients were in the age group of 0-20 years, 46.5% of the patients were in age group of 20-40 years, 26% of the patients were in age group of 41-60 years and 10.5% patients were above 60 years. Though the number of the cases was high among the young people, the casualty rate was high among the old people, Prasad said.

People should take special precautionary measures to protect the senior citizens and vulnerable people from coronavirus.

Along with following Covid-19 protocol such as social distancing, frequent hand wash and covering of the face, the people should also boost their immunity. The smokers should avoid cigarette as they touch their lips during smoking, he said.

FINAL YEAR MBBS STUDENT TO JOIN FIGHT

Lucknow: To intensify the fight against the coronavirus, the state government on Wednesday decided to utilize the services of final year MBBS and nursing students.

Additional chief secretary, home, Awanish Kumar Awasthi said chief minister Yogi Adityanath had directed the medical education department and the health department to post final year MBBS and Nursing students who have completed their course in the hospitals to examine patients and assist senior doctors in the treatment of coronavirus positive patients as well.

Their joining will add to the human resource and also provide young manpower to the hospitals. The doctors and nursing staff will also gain by providing service in the hospitals during crisis. They will get training and long term experience as well, he said.

Principal secretary, health and family welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad said the health department had started training of doctors and para-medical staff posted in the government and private hospitals for protection from coronavirus while imparting emergency services in the hospitals, he said.

On Tuesday, the training was imparted to doctors and paramedical staffs in 40 districts through zoom application. On Wednesday, training will be imparted in remaining 35 districts, he said.

Training will be also given to the chief medical officers posted in all the districts, chief medical superintendents of all the hospitals, doctors, paramedical staff in the government and private hospitals as well.