Oxygen War Room goes on stream

Five senior IAS officers have been appointed as war room heads

Reaching out: A control room was on Wednesday opened by the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation to support COVID-19 patients.

Five senior IAS officers have been appointed as war room heads of the 24x7 State Oxygen War Room set up at the Secretariat for oxygen monitoring and to liaison with line departments, Secretaries and heads of department.

V. Ratheesan, B.S. Thirumeni,. S. Harikishore, M.G. Rajamanickam and K. Vasuki have been appointed as war room head and T.V. Anupama, S. Venkatesapathy, P.B. Nooh, D. Balamurali, D. Karthikeyan, Haritha V. Kumar, Renu Raj and Geromic George as Deputy Heads.

One of the senior IAS officers posted as the overall head of the war room will be available round-the-clock on call. From the deputy heads, two IAS officers will be available at the war room round-the-clock overseeing the activities at the State and District War Rooms.

The Industries Department has been tasked with liaison with manufacturing of oxygen and filling Centres. Transport and Police Departments with transportation of oxygen tankers and mobilisation of more tankers and ensuring green corridors for faster delivery while the Health Department will take care of oxygen usage and supply to hospitals, as per the government order.

The State War Room, to be housed in the South Conference Hall of the Secretariat, will ensure all the District War Rooms are fully functional and responding to the needs round the clock in the next two weeks and thereafter.

The war room head will take two daily reviews at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. to assess the overall situation of oxygen availability to hospitals, as well as availability and occupancy rates of hospitals and field hospitals.

One deputy head will be responsible for the supply side, while the second deputy head will be responsible for monitoring. Deputy heads will call two daily review meetings of all department representatives at the war room at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Issues that remain unresolved will be escalated to the war room head.

The war room head and deputy heads will also monitor all calls received at the war room and ensure that queries and complaints raised are resolved. The State War Room had also been asked to remain in constant touch with District War Rooms.