Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir has earned another honour after it was declared one of the best states and Union Territories where the COVID-19 was handled innovatively.
NITI Aayog in its report titled “Home-based management of Covid-19, has revealed Jammu and Kashmir administration adopted an innovative approach to manage and contain the pandemic during both phases of COVID-19.
From establishing Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) on round-the-clock helpline 104 to utilizing over 300Aangawadis and Panchayats members for door-to-door surveillance of home isolation patients, the report claimed that the UT administration outreach measures have helped contain the pandemic.
“There were local district level triage centres to ensure proper patient examination and referral, reducing unnecessary burden on tertiary and referral hospitals,” the report said.
The NITI Aayog report highlighted the UT administration’s quick response in managing 20,000 Covid Care Centre beds to treat the patients with severe symptoms.
“Over 20,000 CCC beds were made available across J&K for COVID-19 positive patients with no or moderate symptoms, who did not have the necessary facilities in their homes for home isolation. Further, COVID-19 kits containing an oximeter, basic medicines, vitamins, cough syrup, and pamphlets of dos and don’ts were distributed to COVID-19 positive patients in home isolation,” it said.
The report said that the IVRS has helped locate patients and to provide them with on-the-spot suggestions with regards to their treatment.
“Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) was made available on round-the-clock helpline 104. The state partnered with Norway India Partnership Initiative (NIPI) and Health Information Service Provider (HISP) India to create a COVID-19 dashboard for the state,” it said.
“At a glance, COVID-19 dashboard provided real-time information about confirmed, active, recovered cases, deaths, positivity rate, recovery rate, fatality rate, test per million at a single glance, geotagging and clustering of cases, health system preparedness, ICU availability, and isolation beds available to facilitate and generate an appropriate and timely response,” the report said.
It said that the UT administration had innovatively utilized and ASHA volunteers to carry out door-to-door visits to check on the health status of patients on a daily basis.
“Further, the government established a five-bedded CCC in every panchayat, with one oxygen supported bed (equipped with an oxygen concentrator) and other basic facilities in collaboration with the local Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs), Departments of Health & Medical Education, Social Welfare, and Education. These centres were equipped with necessary medical kits and mapped to nearby health facilities with provision of medical consultation, testing, ambulance services, and isolation of positive patients,” the report said.
So far, 334432 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Jammu and Kashmir out of whom 4455 have died due to the disease.
