The Chhattisgarh health and family welfare department on Sunday issued a directive banning all leave of state healthcare officials and employees, including those at the district level.
The step has been taken in view to ensure and make all necessary arrangements for comprehensive treatment of coronavirus-infected patients and to guarantee adequate isolated treatment of suspected cases, an official source said.
The initiative is also to ensure that all precautionary and preventive measures are in place to stop the spread of COVID-19 among the public in the state at any cost.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) flu outbreak as a pandemic—a world-wide spread of a new disease—which has until now infected more than 124,000 people in at least 114 countries.
The government of India too has declared the outbreak as a notified disaster and has directed all possible assistance to states under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).
Based on the regular advisory being issued by the WHO and the Centre, the state government too has been regularly issuing public advisory for creating awareness among the people for adopting effective prevention and other safety measures to arrest the spread of the virus.
This apart, the state health department is also making special arrangements to tackle any possible outbreak in case any COVID-19 cases are reported in Chhattisgarh for which the department will require adequate healthcare staff.
Keeping this in view, it has been made mandatory for all healthcare officials and employees, who in special cases, want to leave the district headquarters, they will have to seek prior permission from their respective district collectors, a government source said.