The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is working towards putting in place a system where COVID-19 patients at triaging centres will be prioritised in the government quota bed allocation system.
Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta, during a virtual meeting with Bangalore Apartments’ Federation and residents’ welfare associations on Wednesday, said that the civic body was still toying with the idea.
The BBMP is operating 48 COVID-19 Care Centres (CCCs) and physical triaging centres in the city. Those who have tested positive can walk into any of these centres for physical triaging or stabilisation. In the current system, if medical intervention is required, the centre will refer the patient to a hospital.
Call for medical professionals
Mr. Gupta called upon medical professionals to volunteer their services and help the civic body in either manning the centres or screening patients for triaging. He added that measures were being taken to ensure quick bed turnaround.
“We have seen cases where patients insist on being in hospitals for 10 days even if they don’t require that kind of medical intervention. In cases where medical observation is essential, patients can be admitted in step-down hospitals. Patients cannot hold on to beds beyond the necessary time, as someone else may require it more,” he said.
Calling upon citizens to follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and “eat and drink alone”, the civic chief claimed that lockdown had been effective. Asked if the lockdown would be extended, he said, “The cases continue to increase in rural areas. The Karnataka government may issue some restrictive orders. We will have to wait and see the nature of these orders.”
Micro-containment
Mr. Gupta said the civic body would collaborate with RWAs to have testing camps in apartments with high caseloads. Clarifying the strategy of micro containment, he said the strategy is isolation.
“We have asked details of positive cases to be shared with apartment associations and RWAs. While hand stamping is being done in some places, some suggest putting ribbons to identify houses with COVID-19 patients. Several initiatives of this nature can be taken up,” he said and clarified that BBMP was not doing any sort of barricading like it did last year.
