COVID-19: BMC intensifies focus on home isolation

Bhubaneswar: With the spike in COVID-19 cases in the city, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has given intensive focus on home isolation patients.

Apart from engaging 79 doctors with the RRT teams and four each at the three administrative zones respectively, physical verification of the facilities for home isolation has become the focal point as the RRT teams verify and check the physical requirements of a separate room and toilet at the home of the patients concerned.

In fact, each RRT team ensures visit to every home isolation patient across the city and perform delivery of home isolation medical kit, pasting of the poster declaring the home isolation facility at the place visited, detailed instructions for the care givers.

They also ensure the facilities like separate room and toilet for the patient so that others in the family would not be affected.

BMC is putting all its efforts on the efficient management of home isolation patients as many COVID-19 positive ones are opting for it.

Home isolation rate has increased from 42 per cent to 73.50 per cent in the city. During the last five days ending yesterday, the home isolation rate was 95.44 per cent.

BMC has 54 RRT teams with 18 in each ward to monitor the patients. Helpline no 1929 has been opened round-the-clock for the last two weeks. Door to door mega health screening is being carried out in 20 non-slum areas by 210 teams.

IT TOOLS IN USE:

Apart from the regular visits by the RRT teams, IT tools have also been put to use to make the monitoring of the health conditions of the Home Isolation patients more efficient, effective and personal on daily basis.

The four zonal medical officers posted at three zones each are doing video conferencing with IT platforms like Zoom Meeting to keeping the patients of the zones in the loop along with senior doctors from the BMC, Additional District Urban Public Health (ADUPHO) under the Health and Family Welfare Department so that the process would be effective.

The zonal medical officers have also formed WhatsApp groups of patients under their jurisdiction so that they could be always in coordination with the patients and the patients also could keep the doctors informed regarding their health status.