From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, May 3: Hours after being appointed as the chief of the State Covid Task Force, deputy chief minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan directed the senior officials in charge of the Covid management to plug in the loopholes in helpline 1912 with two days.

The Covid helpline 1912 should become automotive and transparent in bed allotment system and also develop an Integrated Index App within a deadline of two days, he said.

Following his being appointed as the chairperson of the reconstituted Task Force, he convened a meeting on Monday evening with senior officials who are leading the Covid pandemic management.

The Covid helpline should be strengthened so that it should be able to receive all the inquiry calls, he said.

For this, measures should be taken to increase the line capacity of the helpline.

Further, the professional call centres of private telecom companies can be roped in to manage the calls.

"This will help to resolve the confusion arising out of unprofessional management of calls which persists now,’’ Dr Narayan suggested.

At present, bed-blocking has become a major problem and there is a lack of transparency in the bed allocation system. This should be made automotive and transparent.

As and when the patient gets admitted and discharged the data should be made automatically updated on a real-time basis, Dr Narayan emphasized.

“The captured data with regard to Covid is split among many set-ups and available in only bits and pieces. There are several set-ups such as 1912 helpline, Apthamitra, step 1 hospitals, step 2 centres, zonal level, primary health centres, home isolation, 104, 108 and so on which are all engaged in pandemic management,’’ he said pointing out that it would create confusion.

"But the data that is being collected in these set-ups is not being shared and integrated. This should be immediately sorted out by creating an ‘Integrated Index App’, which would serve as a single common platform,” Dr Narayan explained.

About 92% of the Covid affected are being home isolated and only 8% require hospital admissions. In view of this caring for the home isolated should be made systematic. If the home isolated are neglected and kept out of the loop of Covid management it will lead to anxiety, he told.

The deputy chief minister assured that any required orders to implement the measures will be issued immediately by the government.

Gourav Gupta, chief commissioner, BBMP, P Pradeep, secretary to Dr Narayan, Covid War Room in-charge and senior IAS officer Tushar Girinath, Pushkar, Gopal and other officials were present.