Following a spate of COVID-19 deaths in recent days, the pandemic response in Puducherry is being reoriented to cut down on door-to-clinic delay among fever patients, alongside a thrust on expanding testing.
In the last three days, the Union Territory recorded 54 deaths, including the highest of 20 in a 24-hour period on Friday. There have been 86 deaths since September 1.
As of Sunday, the cumulative toll was 314, with the Union Territory for the first time clocking a case fatality rate of 1.84%, exceeding the national average of 1.71%.
Mortality audit
A mortality audit by the authorities found that a majority of the deaths had occurred within 72 hours of admission at the designated hospitals.
The audit, which is held on Mondays every week by top officials of the Department of Disaster Management, also found that a majority of the patients who died of the infection were elderly and had underlying morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension or chronic renal ailments.
There have been a few deaths not linked to any pre-existing morbid condition.
“We have launched a set of measures to get patients with the onset of symptoms to report to a neighbouring facility. This would help in testing and treatment at a referral hospital as early as possible,” said T. Arun, Health Secretary and District Collector.
Private medical colleges have been directed to scale up oxygen facilities. The institutions will need to increase oxygen equipment to 100 machines from the 42 at present, and ensure that 100 out of the 300 additional beds they have to earmark for COVID-19 care are equipped with oxygen apparatus by September 10.
“The best outcomes will, however, also depend on a judicious use of available oxygen beds by institutions,” Chief Secretary Ashwani Kumar said.
Focus centres
The administration has launched a network of 15 COVID-19 focus centres to function as fever clinics to screen, test and collect samples, besides monitoring home isolation and treatment of patients. These clinics are in addition to the primary health centres diagnosing fever patients with ILI (influenza-like illness) or SARI (Severe Acute Respiratory Illness). Private hospitals and general practitioners have also been asked to refer patients with these signs to the nearest COVID-19 Care Centre or hospital. “The objective is the early detection and treatment of COVID cases, as well as testing the primary contacts of patients,” Dr. Arun said.
The Health Department has rolled out intensive door-to-door surveillance as part of the efforts to scale up the number of tests to about 3,000 a day.
The campaign, which was launched by Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy on Saturday from Kurunji Nagar and Krishna Nagar, was centred on Muthialpet on Sunday.
Three teams are carrying out house-to-house visits in the locality.
