Advisor to Lieutenant Governor Baseer Ahmad Khan Monday visited Sumbal Sub-Division in Bandipora district to take stock of covid mitigation efforts and held a meeting with public representatives, delegations, other stakeholders and officers of district administration to review Covid mitigation measures in place in the District.Chairman District Development Council Abdul Gani Bhat, Deputy Commissioner Dr Owais Ahmad, SSP Bandipora Mohammad Zahid, DDC members, ADDC Afsar Ali Khan, Joint Director Planning Imtiyaz Ahmad, SDM Sumbal and other senior officers of the district were present on the occasion.During the visit, Advisor assessed the status of medical infrastructure and facilities, vaccination and functioning of newly established COVID Care Centres in every Panchayat.Advisor visited Covid Care Centre at Dangerpora Sumbal and took stock of the arrangements put in place at the centre. He said the 5-bedded CCCs have been established on the directions of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha in each Panchayat with an aim to strengthen the health infrastructure in rural areas amid the 2nd wave of covid19 pandemic.He said one among the 5-beds is fully oxygen supported for immediate patient care at village level. During the visit to Dangerpora CCC, Advisor expressed satisfaction over the functioning of these centres and appreciated the role of field level covid warriors in tackling the pandemic.Advisor said there are several households who have no option for isolation of covid positive patients in their own residence and hence these centres will be beneficial for such patients and will help in reducing pressure on mainstream healthcare institutions at block, Sub-District or District level health institutions.Later Advisor Khan also interacted with Religious leaders, Traders, Transporters and other delegations who apprised the Advisor about the issues being faced by them during the ongoing pandemic. Advisor gave patient hearing to the delegations and assured them positive consideration to their grievances.
Advisor Khan urged the people to follow the SOPs and guidelines in letter and spirit to save lives by breaking the chain of the virus. He said with the ease in restrictions, people need to be more cautious and follow the SOPs strictly.He sought cooperation from the religious heads, PRI members, transporters, business community and civil society members to use their influence to motivate people to follow guidelines so that the lives are saved. He said with the cooperation of the people, the LG led government has been able to fight the covid19 pandemic effectively and has reached to the stage to relax the restrictions. He hoped that the people will not lower the guard and continue to take precautions to defeat the 2nd wave of the pandemic.Advisor later undertook a detailed review of the Corona mitigation efforts being taken by the district wherein a detailed PPT was presented by DC Bandipora detailing therein various COVID containment measures taken by the district administration.While appreciating the efforts of district administration, the Advisor emphasized on the officers to further take all necessary measures for effective containment of COVID19 in the district and asked to intensify the vaccination process in the district.Advisor directed the officers to ensure 100 percent vaccination coverage to the target groups where chances of virus exposure are more. He said the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha is personally monitoring the covid mitigation efforts across the UT and has taken several landmark initiatives to tackle the pandemic including establishment of special hospitals in Jammu and Srinagar, construction of oxygen plants in various districts in record time and establishment of 5-bedded Covid Care Centres.Stressing on the importance of vaccination, Advisor said the supply side has been streamlined and directed the authorities for aggressively pursuing the vaccination programme to inoculate maximum eligible population. He said the targeted vaccination drive for high risk and vulnerable groups will further bring down the infections in high contact/exposure areas.