Punjab: Daily monitoring of Covid patients in home isolation from Friday

Asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients in home isolation will be monitored in Punjab from Friday with the govt engaging a consortium of professional home health cos for their regular monitoring

Asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic COVID-19 patients in home isolation will be monitored in Punjab from Friday with the state government engaging a consortium of professional home healthcare companies for their regular monitoring, a senior official said.

Health Secretary Hussan Lal informed Chief Minister Amarinder Singh during a meeting on Thursday that M/s Health Vista Private Limited has been hired for the purpose, and their professional health care tele-callers will monitor, on a daily basis, the health of COVID patients in home isolation for less than 10 days, an official release said here.

The consortium has the experience of monitoring such patients in other states and cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Karnataka.

Daily calling of home isolation patients for monitoring their well-being will be done from phone numbers 01206679850, 08068972066 and 04068118722, the release said.

Patients who are 40 years and above will be monitored on priority under this system. The patients are being requested to respond when they receive calls from the mentioned numbers, the release said.

Video calls for consultation with the doctor, in case desired by home isolation patients, will be arranged. For any medical assistance and doctor consultation by the patients during their isolation period, a separate dedicated number will be shared over SMS with the patient.

For any emergency or ambulance requirement, 108 or 104 can be dialled.

Meanwhile, the Punjab government has set up state and district level task forces to augment the supply and distribution of oxygen amid the COVID pandemic to ensure that there is no shortfall, and is set to float tenders for installing generation plants and storage tanks in all the three government medical colleges and hospitals with generation facilities at civil hospitals in Jalandhar and Ludhiana.

The estimated requirement for liquid medical oxygen generators and storage facilities at the three GMCs at Amritsar, Patiala and Faridkot has been estimated at Rs 9.92 crore, and tenders for the same will be issued soon, the release stated.