People Have To Come Forward To Prevent Further Spread Of COVID, Says Haryana Health Minister

Chandigarh: Haryana Health Minister, Anil Vij on Thursday (August 26) said that people have to actively come forward to prevent further spread of corona in the state. Mr Vij said that the only approach to prevent the spread of the imperceptible COVID-19 is to adhere to the protocols and social distancing norms put in practice by the State and Central Governments. “If we follow these protocols like wearing of masks, maintaining social distancing, and ensuring hand hygiene, then we will be able to prevent the spread of the highly contagious virus”, he said in a statement.

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To combat the precarious COVID-19 situation, Haryana Government adopted an empirical approach and remained perceptive during the first and second waves which resulted in a sharp decline of COVID cases in the State. The state health Minister anticipated the basic requirements and took several steps like the constitution of various committees and teams to handle various activities like Surveillance, Call Centre Management, HR Management, Training and awareness generation, Material Management at State and District Levels. Supervision and monitoring of various activities undertaken for containment of COVID-19 on March 9, 2020, even before the first case was reported, Mr Vij said.

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Likewise, during the second wave this year, there was a sudden spurt of COVID-19 cases, and meeting the oxygen demand was the main concern. To monitor the oxygen distribution, a Control Room at State Headquarters, comprising of Senior Administrative Secretaries of different departments was set up, he said. Listing the key steps taken, Mr Vij said that oxygen audit committees were constituted at District as well as State Level to assess the oxygen demand.

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He further elaborated that the Engineering Department expedited the extension of gas pipelines on COVID beds in hospitals, call centers, and oxygen helpline numbers were distributed to masses, officers of other departments were deputed outside Haryana for monitoring the supply of oxygen from far off plants. He specified different challenges were identified during both the waves.

During the first wave, the challenges were, establishing COVID labs, training the existing manpower, strengthening the existing infrastructure, ensuring availability of logistics, medicines, monitoring the treatment of patients and control the spread of infection, and most importantly motivating the exhausted and demoralized Health Care Workers and Frontline Workers. The Government has taken effective steps to help in curtailing the spread of the highly contagious virus, he added.

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(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol Banega Swasth India campaign is an extension of the five-year-old Banega Swachh India initiative helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. It aims to spread awareness about critical health issues facing the country. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign highlights the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children to prevent maternal and child mortality, fight malnutrition, stunting, wasting, anaemia and disease prevention through vaccines. Importance of programmes like Public Distribution System (PDS), Mid-day Meal Scheme, POSHAN Abhiyan and the role of Aganwadis and ASHA workers are also covered. Only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and become a Swasth or healthy India. The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene.