Apprehension in providing medical care to people from the containment zones, especially Poonthura, in the government and private hospitals and huge delays in admitting COVID-19 patients at the COVID First-Line Treatment Centres (CFLTCs) is proving to be a concern.
Besides, delays in taking pregnant women from Poonthura to the Sree Avittam Tirunal Hospital (SAT) for admission has also come to the light.
The concerns were raised by councillors of Poonthura and Beemapally wards that fall in the critical containment zone in a meeting convened by M.G. Rajamanickam, Incident Commander for Zone II stretching from Perumathura to Vizhinjam, on Thursday.
The Chirayinkeezhu and Kadinamkulam grama panchayats and the coastal wards of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation fall in the Zone II set up for effective implementation of the lockdown following the spurt in case numbers.
The councillors told the meeting that General Hospital, SAT, and the Government Medical College Hospital and those in the private sector are reluctant to provide medical care to people from the containment zones, especially Poonthura, official sources said.
The Incident Commander, accompanied by Sector Superintendent of Police K.E. Baiju and Deputy Director, Health, Jagdeesh, inspected Valiathura to assess the containment situation. Councillors of Valiathura, Vettukad, and Kannanthura and officials of the Revenue, Health, police, and Civil Supplies Departments attended the meeting chaired by the Incident Commander.
Mr. Rajamanickam told The Hindu that he had requested the District Collector to conduct a meeting with all the hospital authorities, from government and private, to instruct them to make arrangements to avoid the delay in giving medical care to those from the containment zone.
The District Collector has also been asked to instruct all government hospitals to set up a transit admission ward for pregnant women with basic facilities prior to getting them admitted to wards for completing formalities.
Bed availability
On the huge delay in admitting COVID-19 positive patients to CFLTCs, the Incident Commander said he had suggested a simple app to know the real-time CFLTC bed availability. “I have already taken it up with the IT Mission director and have requested to the District Collector to follow it up,” he said.
The CFLTC has been set up as a primary-level health-care centre for treating all mild and moderate symptomatic persons under surveillance and can also be utilised for treating positive cases as and when the need arises.
To help citizens and make available essential items, it was decided to publish the timings of the arrival of the vehicles of Supplyco, Horticorp, and Kepco in various localities.
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