‘Focus is on contact tracing, testing’
CHANDIGARH:Posted as principal secretary of the health and family welfare department at a time the covid-19 pandemic is expected to peak, Hussan Lal, a 1995-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is set to face his toughest challenge. Considered to be an officer with his ear to the ground because of his down-to-earth working style, many in the government feel he is the best suited to the job.
He has also been the managing director of the National Health Mission, the Punjab Health Systems Corporation, the Punjab Aids Control Society and also served as commissioner, Food and Drug Administration, all at one time, for four-and-a-halfyears during the previous regime. HT spoke to him on covid-19 in the state.
Where is Punjab lagging in fighting covid-19?
Globally, emphasis is on two things. Testing and contact tracing. Punjab has done very well in testing, but we need to focus more on contact tracing, which at present is 3-4 contacts per positive patient. I chaired a meeting with all civil surgeons today (Wednesday) and have given them the target of increasing contact tracing to at least 10 by the end of the month. The scope of carrying out RT-PCR test is limited, we have decided to focus more on antigen tests. We want to conduct 30,000 tests a day by end of this month.
The state’s Case Fertility Rate (CFR), at 2.6%, remains one of the highest in the country. Do we need to shift strategy?
High CFR rate is the biggest challenge. Early testing and better contact tracing will bring this down. Over the past two days, we conducted 38,000 tests, when Punjab witnessed 35 and 24 deaths (Wednesday); this was 51 and 48 if we go back two days more. Co-morbidity is a big concern.
Health staff has been stopped from entering villages. How will you achieve contact tracing targets?
We are putting more teams on the job and are making use of artificial intelligence. People are not coming forward for testing, as they feel that if they are positive, health teams will pick them up and put them in covid centres. We need to shed this image. Over the past two days, we have worked out a plan to ease norms and move towards a simpler ‘home quarantine’.
Is Punjab equipped to handle the peak?
Let me make it very clear. Nobody exactly knows when the peak is expected to come. That is not the issue. Reports of shortage of ventilators are baseless and only today (Wednesday), we have provided 50 ventilators to private hospitals with whom we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for treatment of covid-19 patients. Twenty ventilators are being added in every medical college.
How will you stop private hospitals from fleecing patients?
The government has fixed rates for treatment of private hospitals. Overcharging will be dealt with strictly. All need to understand this is a crisis over humanity.