Punjab set to launch door-to-door campaign to screen all residents
State health department to prepare detailed data on co-morbidities of residents as part of programme and update details of those aged above 30 on a new web portal
AMRITSAR : With a view to containing the spread of the coronavirus, the Punjab health department is all set to launch a doorto-door campaign to medically screen all residents in the state for the disease as part of a community surveillance project.
To start with, the department will launch the programme in Patiala and Mohali most likely on Monday, followed by the rest of the districts by the next week.
“The department will prepare a detailed data on co-morbidities of the residents. The project will in finding whether the community transmission stage has started in the state or not.
The accredited social health activists (ASHAs), along with officials of the health department and administration in every district will conduct the survey. They will record the health-related data of each resident. Those found symptomatic will be tested for Covid-19,” said state Covid-19 nodal officer Dr Rajesh Bhaskar.
“This will help us provide timely treatment to those infected as well check the further spread of the disease. The health officials will update the data of residents aged above 30 on a new web portal which has been named as ‘house to house surveillance’,” he added.
The web portal, Dr Bhaskar said, is ready and assessment is going on in Patiala and Mohali to check its functioning. “The civil surgeons of all the districts have been told to keep their surveillance teams ready. The health teams will be equipped with equipment and protection gears,” he informed.
AMRITSAR ADMN STARTED DRIVE IN APRIL, STOPPED MIDWAY
The already undergoing doorto-door screening initiative of the Amritsar administration, the health department and the municipal corporation has come to a halt.
Over 53,867 residents of Sultanwind Road and Krishna Nagar localities were screened in three days after the project was its launch on April 12. In the next step, screening of those living in the walled city was to be conducted.