Collector Shrikesh B. Lathkar has said that the district administration is geared to handle the possible third wave of COVID-19 by taking a series of measures to handle the crisis.
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He said that treatment for children will be a big challenge as medical and health experts anticipated the pandemic’s affect on children in third wave.
Mr. Shrikesh told The Hindu here that an exclusive children ward with 25 beds was being readied in the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences. “We have given notification for the appointment of 22 paediatricians whose services are needed for other parts of the district also. Apart from children, the administration is now capable of providing hassle-free medical aid quickly to elderly people also with the availability of sufficient quantity of oxygen both in government and private hospitals. We could make the private hospitals to improve the infrastructure for keeping more medical oxygen which may help other patients too,” he added.
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Mr. Shrikesh expressed happiness over the good response for the vaccination programme in remote areas, including tribal regions of Palakonda, Sithampet, Patapatnam, Hiramandalam and other places.
“We have completed admistering the first dose of vaccine to 10.38 lakh people. And second dose was administered to 3.47 lakh people. We will complete second dose also in a couple of months as many of them are yet to wait for statutory period of 84 days as far as Covishield is concerned. As far as Covaxin is concerned the minimum waiting period is 28 days. The medical and health department has been giving wide publicity about the importance of second dose of vaccine also to the people,” the Collector said.
Mr. Shrikesh said that vaccination drive for the persons aged between 18 and 44 years had been started with the nod from the government. He said the vaccines including Sputnik V were available with the district administration. He urged the people to follow COVID appropriate behaviour, including wearing mask and social distancing in spite of completion of second dose of vaccination.