Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday asked collectors of all 36 districts in the state to form Covid Task Force of expert doctors in each district with an aim to trace and treat the coronavirus patients in time.
Uddhav Thackeray held a video conference with the collectors, revenue commissioners, and municipal commissioners to understand the steps they have taken to contain the coronavirus.
Referring to the success of a state-level task force of the doctors in treating the patients, he urged the collectors to take a cue from that experiment.
“The task force should comprise of experienced doctors who can maintain contact with the doctors based in Mumbai,” Thackeray said.
Uddhav Thackeray also stressed that the coronavirus patients could be recovered if treated in time.
He suggested the senior doctors could guide their juniors on treatment if they cannot treat a patient because of their old age or age-related ailments.
Uddhav Thackeray has warned that the government will not tolerate lethargy in submitting test reports by the private laboratories.
“The test reports must be submitted within 24 hours. We will not tolerate the delay in any case,” Uddhav Thackeray said.
Maharashtra has improved its period of doubling the Coronavirus patients from 7 days to 23 days in two months. Its recovery rate at 50.4 per cent is a little lower than the national average of 53.8 per cent. However, the state’s death rate has gone up from 3.7 per cent to 4.8 per cent.
Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta said the rate of infection is more in the areas where less than 10 people, who came in contact with a positive patient, are being screened.
Meanwhile, the state government has decided to adopt a tele-ICU facility to treat the Covid-19 patients admitted in the ICUs in seven districts – Mumbai, Thane, Jalgaon, Solapur, Aurangabad, Akola, and Jalna.
The facility has been developed by Medi Scape, a foundation launched by several doctors. It has a system to control a Patient’s health through a monitor installed at each ICU bed. The experts can advise the doctors on treatment based upon the readings on the monitor.