Odisha Govt Forms Expert Teams to Monitor Functioning of COVID Care Facilities

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Government has formed expert teams for the monitoring of COVID Care facilities across the State.

The expert teams, the constituted both at medical college level and state level, will visit the established COVID facilities and monitor them for provision of optimal COVID case management, said the Health and Family Welfare Department.

The state level team comprises Special Secretary (PH), H & FW Department, Chairman; Prof. & HOD of Pulmonary Medicine of Govt . MCH for the district tagged, Prof. & HOD of Microbiology of Govt . MCH for the district tagged, Prof. & HOD of Anesthesiology of Govt . MCH for the district tagged.

The medical college level team comprises Faculty in Pulmonary Medicinal Medicine, Faculty in Microbiology and Faculty in Anesthesiology.

The medical college level teams will be formed by the Dean & Principal of the concerned Medical Colleges in consultation with the Superintendent of the attached hospital and HODs of Pulmonary Medicine / Medicine , Microbiology & Anesthesiology .

The team will inspect and supervise the COVID Hospitals on site in the districts tagged to them with prior information to the CDM & PHO of the district that will facilitate the inspection. He will ensure the presence of authorized Medical Officer attached to the hospital during the inspection of the team.

The teams shall observe and assess the protocols followed for screening the cases isolation and quarantine mechanisms followed method of sample collection management of COVID positive cases, management of patients in ICUs,. Biomedical Waste Disposal, Infection Control and Prevention methods, rational use of PPEs, deceased body disposal methods followed and appropriate use of facilities like HDUs & ICUs beds.

During its onsite inspection, the team will assess the adherence to the different guidelines on management and infection prevention control practice in the hospital and appropriate use of facilities like HDUS & ICUs beds .

The members of the team will assess the quality of diets, equipments , provision & stock of logistics including oxygen , drugs and PPEs. During on site visit the team will also assess the level of patient satisfaction in the hospital.

During the first phase of the COVID pandemic in the State, several Covid Care Centers (CCC), Dedicated COVID Health Centers (DCHC) and Dedicated Covid Hospitals ( DCH ) have been set up across the State . Many of them had suspended their operation or reduced the capacity during decline of the first phase of the COVID-19.

As the incidence of COVID 19 cases are on rise currently, the Government of Odisha have taken expeditious steps to expand the capacity of treatment facilities for the peoples of the State. These include expansion of the bed HDU & ICU capacity in Government as well as Private Hospitals to mitigate the pandemic, the Health Department said.