The Srinagar administration is putting in place elaborate arrangements as part of preparedness to prevent the spread in the district of novel coronavirus that is spreading around the world, an official spokesman said.
He said that starting from theairport the administration has beefed up screening arrangements having set upfive help-desks with strengthened support staff and is screening all arrivalsincluding international and domestic travellers before allowing them to proceedto their respective destinations.
Thespokesman said that special announcements and outreach are being made at theairport in order to ensure that no one escapes the screening process. Similararrangements are being made at the railway station to identify those requiringscreening and quarantining.
He saidthe suspected cases will be shifted to quarantine facilities which have beenset up across the district. These facilities have been set up at differentprivate hospitals and nursing homes in addition to healthcare centres locatedin different health zones of the district.
The private hospitals andnursing homes where quarantine facilities have been established include NooraHospital at HMT, Khyber Hospital at Khayam, Kidney Hospital at Sonwar, RamzanaHospital at Gogji Bagh, Modern Hospital at Rajbagh, Sheikh ul Alam Hospital atKaran Nagar, Mubarik Hospital at Hyderpora, Florence Hospital at Chanpora,Shifa Medical Centre at Magarmal Bagh, Ahmad Hospital at Nowgam, Star Hospitalat Nowgam and New City Hospital at Tengpora, the spokesman added.
Other healthcare facilitieswhere quarantine facilities have been set include MMC Sanatnagar, PHC Chanpora,MMC Noorbagh, JLNM Hospital Rainawari and Trauma Hospital Lawaypora, he added.
Twelve hotels located attwo different areas have also been earmarked as quarantine facilities to beused if required, the spokesman said, adding that the administration has alsoset up isolation facilities where the affected or positive cases will beadmitted for treatment. These have been set up at SKIMS Soura, SMHS, CDHospital and SKIMS Bemina.
Thegovernment has also made a testing facility available at SKIMS Soura. Thefacility which was made operational today will be a significant help as it willhelp detect cases quickly and help in overall assessment of the healthsituation.
In addition to these arrangements the administration has constituted tens of surveillance teams comprising officials from different departments to help tackle the situation quickly and effectively.
Besides other tasks these teams will be tasked with finding out suspected cases and reporting them to health authorities for testing and treatment if required, he said.
On theother hand the Health Department has activated rapid response teams – one ineach health zone of the district – across the district. These teams will bemonitoring the situation round-the-clock and taking measures to prevent andcontrol the spread of the virus, the spokesman said, adding that these teamswill be headed by concerned zonal medical officers who have been designated asnodal officers and who include District Epidemiologist Dr Tasaduq (9906666077),ZMO SR Gunj Dr Mumtaza (9419062633), ZMO Khanyar Dr Tariq (9596007400), ZMOBatamaloo Dr Sameena (9906721302), ZMO Zadibal Dr Fozia (9419078467) and BMOHazratbal Dr Hashmat (9419018715).
Meanwhile,a central room has been established at DC Office Srinagar to coordinate thiselaborate response mechanism that has been put in place in the district. Thiscontrol room – which can be contacted at 01942457543 and 01942457552 helplinenumbers – will be available round-the-clock.
Deputy CommissionerSrinagar Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary who is personally monitoring all theseefforts visited some of these facilities to inspect arrangements. He alsochaired two meetings to sensitise the concerned officials and review thearrangements being made in the district in regard to preparedness forpreventing spread of the pathogen in the district.
Speaking on the occasion he said response mechanism to deal with this challenge has been activated across the district adding these arrangements put in place in the district are all about prevention and must not lead to panic.
He appealed for public cooperation in the matter while emphasising the importance of self-reporting and quarantining to prevent its spread. He also appealed to the media to report accurately and avoid misinformation that creates panic.
It should be noted that theadministration is also actively conducting awareness campaigns throughdifferent mediums to help the general public be aware about precautions thatneed following to prevent spread or acquisition of the disease. Last week theadministration in the district also reached out to mosques and shrines in thedistrict.
Meanwhile, inspectiondrives are underway across the district to check availability and pricing ofpersonal protective equipment. Chemists and other such stores were inspectedand fined across all seven tehsils of the district under strict instructions ofthe DC.