Alarmed by reports that Covid-19 patients were dying within 48 hours of being admitted in health centres in some parts of the States such as UP, Kerala and Bihar, the Centre on Saturday asked the respective State Governments to ensure timely referral and hospitalisation of people infected with the deadly virus.
Deaths due to Covid-19 in India has crossed 42,000 while over 21 lakhs people have been infected so far.
The Union Health Ministry pointed out that 13 districts in eight States and Union Territories are reporting Covid-19 mortality higher than the national average and advised them to address the issues of low testing and delay in test results, and ensure timely hospitalisation.
These are Kamrup Metro in Assam, Patna in Bihar, Ranchi in Jharkhand, Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, Ganjam in Odisha, Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh; North 24 Paraganas, Hooghly, Howrah, Kolkata and Maldah in West Bengal, and Delhi.
These districts account for nearly nine per cent of India’s active cases and about 14 per cent of Covid-19 deaths. They also report low tests per million and high confirmation percentage.
big concern: Centre”A surge has been observed in daily new cases in four districts -- Kamrup Metro in Assam; Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh; and Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha in Kerala,” the Ministry said.
In a high-level virtual meeting chaired by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, these eight States were directed to ensure availability of ambulances and maintain zero tolerance for their refusal, it said.
As part of the Centre’s effort to review and handhold States and Union Territories for collaborative management of Covid-19, two high-level meetings were chaired by Bhushan -- on August 7 and 8 -- to engage with those States with fatality rates higher than the national average in order to advise and support them on efforts to prevent and reduce fatality, it said.
On Friday, the Union Health Secretary also held a virtual meeting with 16 other districts in four States -- Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Karnataka -- reporting Covid-19 mortality higher than the national and States’ average.
According to the Ministry, these districts include Gujarat’s Ahmedabad and Surat, Karnataka’s Belagavi, Bengaluru Urban, Kalaburagi and Udupi, Tamil Nadu’s Chennai, Kanchipuram, Ranipet, Theni, Thiruvallur, Tiruchirappalli, Tuticorin and Virudhnagar and Telangana’s Hyderabad and Medchal Malkajgiri.