As Kerala takes its battle against COVID-19 into May, the State-level control room at the Directorate of Health Services that plays a frontline role in this fight has turned a 100 days old.
For more than three months now, the control room team that includes doctors have been working round-the-clock to prevent a large-scale COVID-19 outbreak.
Although the first case in Kerala was reported on January 30, the State had launched preventive measures much earlier. The control room was activated on January 24, armed with experience drawn from tackling the Nipah outbreak and the back-to-back floods of 2018 and 2019.
It is this control room that has been coordinating a host of activities — data compilation on people returning from COVID-affected regions, contact tracing of COVID-positive patients, medical assistance, surveillance, and availability of medicines and protective equipment.
The control room has 18 different committees for effectively coordinating its activities. At the district level, teams have been formed on similar lines and they liaise with the State control room.
Every day, work begins by reviewing the activities of the previous day and preparing a list of activities that have to be undertaken that day. This is followed by a video conference by the Director of Health Services with district control rooms. Each of the 18 committees carry out scientific assessment of information related to their specialised areas and chart out courses of action.
The 24x7 call centre at the control room (0471-2309250, 51, 52, 53, 54 and 55) has so far attended more than 15,000 calls.
Health Minister K.K. Shylaja on Saturday congratulated the staff manning the State and district-level control rooms for their untiring fight against the pandemic.
