Delhi LG appoints 2 nodal officers to coordinate with hospitals for COVID-19 data communication

Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Wednesday appointed two senior IAS officers as nodal officers to coordinate with government and private hospitals to ensure proper communication of data related to coronavirus. The two officers -- Udit Prakash Rai and Ravi Dhawan -- have been appointed as nodal officers.

Rai has been appointed as nodal officer for coordinating with private hospitals to ensure proper communication of data related to coronavirus and other measures being taken for its effective management and containment. Dhawan has been designated as nodal officer to coordinate with four government hospitals -- AIIMS, RML, Safdarjung and Lady Hardinge -- for coronavirus related data.

Meanwhile, Baijal also chaired a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other members of the Delhi Cabinet and senior officials at Raj Niwas. According to a statement from Raj Niwas, the Health department made a presentation where it told Baijal that up to June 1, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases is 20,834 in Delhi out of which 8,746 patients had either recovered/, were discharged or had migrated. 

The LG was informed that the case fatality rate in Delhi was 2.5 per cent compared to the national average of 2.83 per cent. He was told that the recovery rate is 46 per cent while the doubling rate of cases is 12.8 days and tests per million are 11,449 as compared to the national average of 2,838 tests per million. There are 6,476 hospital beds, over 432 ICU beds, over 342 ventilator beds and over 3,233 oxygenated-supported beds in dedicated COVID-19 hospitals, the LG was told.

"The LG was further apprised that various steps are being taken to improve the efficiency of CATS ambulance which includes fleet augmentation, redeployment of ambulances as per call frequency and increasing the number of phone lines by about 33 per cent and setting up of alternate call centre with scalable capacity of at least 100 call lines," the statement said. "It was also informed that approximately three lakh stranded migrants have been sent to 16 states by 237 trains. Also, 638 buses have transported 12,804 passengers to different states in the past few weeks," it added.

According to the Raj Niwas statement, the LG reiterated that the Health Department should continuously and closely review the capacity building of medical infrastructure and take all necessary steps to scale up the availability of oxygenated beds, ICU beds and ventilators in Delhi. In relation to instances of delay in providing test reports by labs, the LG directed that due action as per law should be taken against labs responsible for the delay.

(image from PTI)