A sensitization meeting on coronavirus for owners and management of all government and private hospitals, tea estate hospitals, military base hospitals and ESI hospitals was held in Assam’s Tezpur on Tuesday.
The programme was organized by Sonitpur district administration and District Health Society, Sonitpur.
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) sensitization programme was held at the conference hall of the deputy commissioner’s office under the chairmanship of deputy commissioner Manvendra Pratap Singh.
The sensitization programme was also attended by proprietors of banquet halls, hotels, resorts and railway hospitals.
The meeting was held with the aim to sensitize and create awareness among the stakeholders in order to check the spread of this disease.
Addressing the meeting, Singh informed all present about the various steps taken by the district administration with focus on prevention of the disease along with creating awareness on hygiene and sanitation.
The administration has restricted permission for all kinds of meetings and events which may lead to a mass gathering, he informed.
Addressing the health officials present, the deputy commissioner directed them to follow the advisories and standard operational procedures as received from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and implement them without fail.
He directed owners of all hospitals to be fully prepared to deal with any outbreak of the disease in Sonitpur district, which has already been declared a pandemic at the global level.
He also asked all health care institution owners to display IEC materials for creating awareness among the patients visiting their institutions.
He also instructed the drug inspectors to ensure no pharmacies are overcharging for masks and sanitizers and maintain optimal availability of medicines in the district.
Assistant professor of Tezpur Medical College and Hospital, Dr Benudhar Nath spoke about the symptoms associated with the disease and gave a detailed presentation on the procedure to be followed for screening and testing of suspect cases.
He laid stress on use of masks, hand washing by healthcare professionals and informed that all masks should be discarded scientifically after 6-8 hours of use.
A second sensitization meeting for all heads of various government departments and tea garden management, heads of educational institutions, travel agencies was held in the district library auditorium later in the day.
They were asked to create awareness in their respective organizations to avoid spread of the disease and to minimize public gatherings to the extent possible in view of the instructions issued by the Government of Assam.
The Sonitpur district administration has also started carrying out awareness drives at every panchayat involving all PRI members, school teachers, ASHAs, AWWs and gaon burhas for sensitization at the grassroots level under the supervision of all block primary health centres in the district.