Rail travelers permitted home quarantine
GMC, CD, ASCOMS to be used as referral hospitals
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, July 27: The Union Territory Government today revised COVID-19 management for asymptomatic patients permitting them home isolation with certain conditions like separate room facility at house and also allowed rail travelers reaching here the home quarantine after sampling if they have valid contactable telephone number with Aarogya Setu application. A decision on home quarantine for air travelers is under consideration of the Government and final call will be taken in next few days.
The Government has also declared Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu, Chest Diseases Hospital Bakshi Nagar and ASCOMS Sidhra as referral only hospitals and they will admit only those Coronavirus patients as referred by other hospitals of Jammu division while Gandhi Nagar hospital and COVID Care Centre, Bhagwati Nagar will be primary centres for admission of Corona patients in Jammu City.
These and other major decisions were taken at a meeting chaired here today by Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam and attended among others by Financial Commissioner Health and Medical Education Atal Dulloo and Secretary Disaster Management, Reconstruction, Relief and Rehabilitation Simrandeep Singh on COVID-19 mitigations measures in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Keeping in view better management of COVID-19 patients, the protocol will be revised and all asymptomatic patients with no co-morbidity and not vulnerable otherwise will be allowed to remain under home quarantine, if they have separate room facility at homes and have downloaded the Aarogya Setu application on their mobile telephones,” an official handout issued after the meeting said.
It added that such patients will be provided with pulse oximeter to monitor their oxygen saturation levels and in the event of drop below 90 percent they will immediately report to hospitals.
“A poster will be put up outside the home of such patients displaying the quarantine status and the teams of Health Department will monitor their health,” the Government handout said.
The Government has also permitted home quarantine for the persons arriving from outside the Union Territory by train provided they have valid contactable phone number and Aarogya Setu application in their mobile telephones. However, in the event of rail travelers turning positive, the Standard protocol with regard to management of Corona patients will be followed.
The Government handout pointed out that home quarantine for rail travelers has been allowed taking into consideration the low positivity rate among rail and air travelers which stood at 0.9 percent.
Sources said a similar decision i.e. home quarantine for air travelers is also under consideration and the final call will be taken in next few days.
“It has also been decided that the present practice of administrative quarantine of Corona positive contacts will be dispensed with and the contacts too will be permitted home quarantine provided they are asymptomatic. The contacts will be sampled and defined protocol followed if they test positive for the virus,” the handout said.
Asserting that present practice of hospitalization of COVID-19 patients needs to be regulated to avoid unnecessary strain on healthcare system, the Government handout said that the hospital beds of tertiary hospitals are required to be kept available for more severe cases who may need intensive monitoring in a hospital setting.
It added that on the lines of SKIMS Srinagar, Medical College Bemina, CD Hospital and SMHS hospitals in Kashmir as referral only hospitals for COVID-19 patients, a similar mechanism will be instituted in Jammu City where GMC Jammu, CD Hospital Bakshi Nagar and ASCOMS Sidhra will be referral only hospitals for Corona patients.
“These hospitals will now admit only such COVID-19 patients who will be referred by other hospitals of Jammu division while Gandhi Nagar hospital and COVID Care Centre, Bhagwati Nagar will now be primary centres for admission of COVID patients in Jammu City,” the handout said.
Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam said in the meeting that Panchayati Raj Institutions can play an important role in controlling spread of COVID-19. He added that a massive campaign for surveillance involving Panchayati Raj Institutions will be launched to identify COVID suspect cases in rural areas.
The PRIs will be supplied pulse Oximeter and contactless thermometer for the purpose and they shall be imparted training for undertaking this activity, he added.
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