Bengaluru authorities, resident associations join hands to quarantine COVID patients

While the state government has been establishing COVID care centres at marriage halls, auditoriums, many Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) too have come forward to facilitate home isolation and management of positive patients in their apartment premises. Though it is stated that the RWA should have a tie up with the medical team for the clinical support to the patients.

In this regard, on Friday, BBMP, with the help of Bangalore Apartments Federation, enabled 225 apartments campuses in Bommanahalli to create COVID Care Centres, thereby allowing immediate relief for 42,383 families.

The preparations to open country's largest COVID Care Centre at Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) is underway. The BBMP claims it to be a 10,000-bed facility where asymptomatic patients or those with mild symptoms will be admitted.

The BBMP Mayor, M Goutham Kumar, apprised that 300 doctors and 600 nurses along with a supporting staff of 300 people will be deployed. "Waste from the centre will be treated as biomedical waste and disposed systematically. Laundry facility to wash blankets and bed-sheets will also be provided," he said.

Meanwhile, one of the major challenges in running a COVID-19 designated hospital is managing the medical waste that has shot up the cost of waste management exponentially.  

“Ours has increased exponentially. We have a third party person which is allotted to the state pollution control board and he manages the  medical waste. Initially, for the first three days, there were no issues and the waste was regularly collected. Without informing me, the waste collection was stopped suddenly. For half a day, the waste was lying near the hospital in an area where we used to have an old incinerator.  ACE Suhas is a COVID-19 designated hospital so I am told that there will be a different invoicing bracket and the hospital has to sign a new agreement,” Dr Jagadish Hiremath, CEO of ACE Suhas hospital.

However, the ACE Suhas hospital has started counselling sessions for the staffers in which motivational speakers pay a visit to the hospital.

“We have formed a committee, Cross Infection Prevention Committee,  which is headed by our gynecologist. Everyday she calls the staff and holds a counselling session. We take their feedback and if there is any negative feedback we try to address them immediately. Motivational speakers are called to chat with our staff. We are trying to keep the morale up,” the doctor added.

The tall claims made by the BBMP that powrakarmikas have been provided with safety kits crumbled last month, when 23 workers tested positive for the virus in a case of random testing.  

With the rise in medical waste after the pandemic, the powrakarmikas have been vulnerable as they are exposed to hazardous waste. In a placard protest the safaikaramcharis had demanded complete safety equipments, including full body PPE for all powrakarmikas and regular medical checkups.

A demand for Rs 50 lakh health insurance for all powrakarmikas under PM Garib Kalyan Yojana has also been put forth to the government.

In a parallel development, the Bengaluru City police and the civic agency, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagare Palike (BBMP), have collected Rs 1 crore as fine collection in the last one month for 46,959  mask and social distancing violations.