Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Farooq Khan, today inspected Health Institutions and Quarantine Centres in Ramban district besides interacting with the PRIs and other public representatives during his extensive tour of the district.He also chaired a meeting to review the arrangements being made by the district administration to prevent the pandemic besides assessing working of health department and other essential services in the backdrop of COVID-19 pandemic situation.Deputy Commissioner, Nazim Zai Khan, SSP, Haseeb-ur- Rahman, ADDC, Nawab Din, SSP, Traffic, JS Johar, ADC, Ashok Sharma and various officers of Police, Health and other allied departments were present in the meeting.Advisor Khan also interacted with the doctors and other paramedical staff to assess their requirements and problems being faced by them to tackle COVID-19 patients and those persons who are under quarantine in different designated places. He assured the Health workers that PPE kits would be provided to them besides other required equipments and material so that they perform their duties in a comfortable and safe environment. He asked the health department to strictly follow the SOPs prescribed by the WHO and Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with regard to these facilities.DDC apprised the Advisor Khan that district administration has established 2200 bedded quarantine facility in 67 well equipped centres across the district besides augmenting the health infrastructure to deal with COVID-19 effectively.Administration has also constituted ward and panchyat level surveillance teams to identify the persons who have travel as well as contact history, he added.
The Advisor also interacted with the quarantined persons and enquired about their well-being and facilities being provided to them. He further asked the concerned authorities to ensure proper care and hygiene besides maintaining social distancing within the premises as per standard operating procedures in place to deal with COVID-19 cases.During the meeting, Advisor Khan also enquired about the status of ration distribution system, transfer of financial assistance in the bank accounts of labour besides old age, widow and other pension holders. He said that some people facing hardships due to lockdown might be hesitating to come forward for seeking any help and the district administration should identify such people with the help of elected representatives in order to provide relief to them.He directed the DSWO to ensure transfer of pension in the account of beneficiaries whereas ALC was directed to ensure financial assistance to registered as well as non registered labourers. He asked AD Food to provide ration to all destitute and non ration card holder families under coordination with district administration. Advisor Khan directed the officers to put in their best efforts to prevent the spread of virus and asked them to intensify efforts to find anyone who might have come in contact with the suspected cases.Later, Advisor interacted with President MC Ramban, BDC Chairman, President Beopar Mandal, PRIs and frontline warriors and appreciated their role and contribution in this hour of crisis. He impressed upon them to cooperate with the administration to maintain social distancing during visit to the banks, ration stores and other supply points.