Why in news?
With the nationwide death toll from COVID-19 touching 273 and the number of positive cases reaching 8,447 on Sunday, the Union Health Ministry said India is preparing for a possible exponential surge in cases.
Details
- Amid demands for ramping up health surveillance, the Centre said it is expanding the COVID-19 testing capacity in State-run as well as private medical colleges.
- Health Ministry said that with the average rate of over 4% growth in cases recently, the government is expanding testing capacity in State-run as well as private medical institutions.
- The government is extra prepared if the number of cases rises exponentially.
- Fourteen mentor institutes, including the AIIMS and NIMHANS, have been identified to mentor the medical colleges and expand testing capacity.
Boost to primary care
- Current Focus is on increasing the capacity of primary medical infrastructure which includes dedicated hospitals, isolation beds, ICU beds, and quarantine facilities.
- Dedicated hospitals for management of COVID-19 patients have increasingly been set up across the country with various private sector hospitals.
- Online training modules and webinars for ventilator management, clinical management, infection prevention control, bio-medical waste management, and epidemiology have been organized by these institutions and to prepare the frontline medical workers, mock drills too have been organized.
- The government is trying to provide door-to-door essential goods in the hotspots in coordination with the civil society.
