Bengaluru adopts Mumbai model to tackle second wave of Covid-19

Taking a cue from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMCs success in tackling the second wave of Covid19 Karnataka issued directives to set up Ward Decentralised Triage and Emergency Response DETER Committees for Covid19 management in all 198 wards in Bengaluru based on the Mumbai modelThe ward level committees will have officials of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike BBMP ward committee members government officers volunteer RWAs and civil society organisationsThis will help in the decentralisation and provide better supervision for wardlevel Covid19 governance read the directives issued by the Revenue Departments principal secretary N Manjunath PrasadThe directive also stated that ward level Community Triage is seen as a successful intervention in many cities including Mumbai Currently there is a delay in informing the test results to the patient due to the centralised ICMR process followed by BU number generation process the directive notesThe ward DETER committees WDC will now be set up in all 198 wards of the BBMP and they will be entrusted with activities related to Covid19 management the directive explainedAccording to this directive the WDCs will be headed by a ward nodal officer and the order states that ward level war rooms can also be set up The main objective of setting up the WDCs is that it becomes the first point of contact with the government for Covid19 patients or their attendees in BengaluruThe focus of these ward level committees will be to help people access hospital beds In particular the role of a triage coordinator is outlined in the order This is someone who offers community triage services with the help of a support staff A competent and trained doctor can guide the triage centre while doctors interns final year students of MBBS Dental Nursing or AYUSH doctors will also be at the triage centre This centre will work with the WDCTo reduce delay in results and avoid panic positive cases are relayed to the triage coordinator directly from the PHC throughout the day The triage coordinator will delegate numbers to relevant citizen volunteers The volunteers must be trained to do triage to identify persons who need to be admitted to ICU and those who require hospitalisation or should be sent to Covid19Care Centres or isolated at home reads the orderThe data of those in ICU hospital CCC or at home will be maintained by the triage centreThe order also discusses an efficient exit strategy to ensure bed turnaround time in hospitals is reduced This includes limiting hospital admissions to people with severe illness and shifting those with moderate illness to CCCs in five days The WDCs will be tasked with doing bed audits thrice a day and prioritise admissions to those who need it the mostEach ward level war room will be equipped with a call centre and training will be given in the use of oxygen and pulse oximetersThe WDCs will also work with RWAs and social organisations in their respective wards COVID19 testing coverage will also be increased and vaccination drives will be conducted in different wards when the stocks of vaccines are replenishedUntil now the Covid19 response in Bengaluru was coordinated with a main helpline number 1912 and zonal level helplines for each of the BBMPs eight zones East West South Bommanahalli Dasarahalli Mahadevapura Rajarajeshwari Nagar and YelahankaThe decision to decentralise comes after the Supreme Courts observations on May 5 in the case of Delhis management of Covid19 cases It told the Union government to look to Mumbai and take note of its successes in managing the supply of oxygen So far Mumbai has had no reported deaths from lack of oxygenBombay Municipal Corporation BMC has done some remarkable work and not disrespecting Delhi but we can maybe see what was done by BMC I understand that Maharashtra also produces oxygen which Delhi cant do If you draw from experience and figure out how the holding corporations can be done in DelhiThen we will have a module for Delhi in place based on the successful model in Bombay which is a large metropolis Justice D Y Chandrachud had observed on May 5This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever