Andhra Pradesh has done reasonably well in controlling the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic through testing, treatment and creating awareness among the common people on the importance of adhering to COVID-19 protocols to check the spread of the virus, Principal Secretary, Health, Medical and Family Welfare, Muddada Ravi Chandra, has said.
In his opening remarks at a webinar on the “100th Continuing Medical Education (CME): Update on COVID-19”, organised by the Andhra Medical College(AMC) on Sunday evening, he said: “We crossed three crore tests, vaccinated 93% of the 5 crore people in the State with at least one dose and about 63% with both doses, which was among the highest in India. On the treatment side, 24,000 oxygen concentrators and 28,000 oxygen cylinders were available.”
He recalled the sacrifices made by doctors, nurses and paramedical staff in the fight against the pandemic. Referring to the detection of the first Omicron case at Vizianagaram on Sunday, he said there was no need to panic. About 90,000 RTCPR tests can be done in a day in the State. He announced that genome sequencing facility would be set up in Vijayawada soon. He congratulated the AMC team and the AMCANA (AMC Alumni of North America) for completing 99 episodes of CME programmes successfully.
P.V. Sudhakar, Principal, AMC, recalled that the idea of conducting the CMEs was mooted by the then District Collector V. Vinay Chand in August 2020 for sharing of knowledge and changing protocols on the new disease. He complimented AMCANA, particularly Dr. Sridhar Chilimuri and Dr. Ram Kairam, for their cooperation in the success of the CMEs.
“I met a doctor from remote area of Srikakulam district recently. He told me prior to the CME webinars, doctors from rural areas of north Andhra were in two minds whether to treat COVID-19 patients in Srikakkulam or shift them to Visakhapatnam. After attending some of the CMEs, the confidence of the rural doctors had improved and he told that he had helped in saving several lives,” Dr. Sudhakar said. The CMEs have helped practitioners in rural areas to keep abreast of the changing treatment protocols, he added.
Dr. Sudhakar said: “I have also spoke to some of the participants from abroad and they told me they were also benefited by the experience of doctors from India. We have started a YouTube channel containing the repository of the wealth of knowledge by experts from both the countries. This can be accessed by all practitioners in both India and the USA.”
Dr. Sridhar Chilimuri, physician-in-chief, Bronxcare Hospital Center, New York, spoke on the topic “COVID-19: The next phase”.
Dr. T. Ravi Raju, former DME, spoke. Dr. Ram Kairam, a former Professor of Neurology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, moderated the webinar.
Over 400 doctors and medical students participated in the virtual conference.
