Cautioning private laboratories across J&K against charging more than Rs 2,400 per COVID19 tests, Health and Medical Education (H&ME) Department has permitted home quarantine for asymptomatic COVID patients having no co-morbidity.
“The approval for revision of the protocol with regard to management of COVID19 patients has been given for those who are asymptomatic with no co-morbidity and are not vulnerable otherwise, and such patients will be permitted for home quarantine,” said Financial Commissioner, H&ME, Atal Dulloo.
As per an order the government has dispensed with the present practice of administrative quarantine of contacts of COVID19 patients.
Accordingly, all the asymptomatic contacts of COVID19 patients will be allowed home quarantine and tested on the sixth day of their contact.
In case, the test of the contact returns positive, defined protocol for COVID19 will be allowed, as per the department.
To implement the decision on the ground, Divisional Commissioners of Jammu and Kashmir, Deputy Commissioners, Director SKIMS Soura, Principal Government Medical Colleges (GMC) Jammu and Srinagar, GMCs Anantnag, Baramulla, Doda, Kathua and Rajouri, and Director Health Services Kashmir and Jammu regions have been conveyed about the revision of the protocol.
These conditions for asymptomatic patients provide that the patients should have separate room available in their home and they should download Aarogua Setu application on their phones.
They will be provided with Oximeter to monitor their oxygen saturation and in the event of drop of the oxygen level below 90 percent, they should immediately be hospitalized.
The health authorities have also made it mandatory that the patients should post posters outside their residence displaying that the resident has been quarantined, and the reach out team should be constituted by Directorate of Health Services, of Jammu and Kashmir to monitor health status of the patients.
Meanwhile, according to Dulloo, the Lt Governor GC Murmu has directed that no private laboratory should charge more than Rs 2,400 for RT-PCR test for COVID19.
An official said the data related to the patients will be uploaded on the RT-PCR app at the time of taking the sample.
“The information of the patient should be maintained with utmost confidentiality, all the private testing labs must preserve the RTPCR machine generated data for future verification by the government and the private labs are also instructed to display the rate of the visible manner,” said the official.