DC Ludhiana urges IMA to assist district administration in fighting covid-19

Ludhiana:    Deputy Commissioner Mr Varinder Sharma today urged the doctors registered with Indian Medical Association (IMA) Ludhiana for assisting the district administration in fighting Novel Coronavirus (COVID 19) pandemic. The Deputy Commissioner said that in case the number of positive cases increases in the coming days, the private doctors registered with IMA Ludhiana should also come forward and assist the District Administration.
    A special training programme for the private doctors was held at the Dumra Auditorium of Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, here today, in which Deputy Commissioner Mr Varinder Sharma was the Chief Guest while Civil Surgeon Dr Rajesh Kumar Bagga was the guest of honour. The private doctors were trained for collecting, packaging and delivering samples to the Civil Hospital in a safe manner.
    During this special training programme, the Deputy Commissioner urged the private doctors that under the Mission Fateh of the Punjab government, they should become stakeholders in the fight against COVID 19. He said that its a war like situation and every person should come forward and contribute so that Ludhiana stays safe.
    On this occasion, the Deputy Commissioner also shared a video documentary with the doctors of IMA, which was related to the Spanish Flu of 1918. He said that it becomes the duty of all doctors to help the people who need treatment during the current testing times. He also assured them all possible help from district administration and health department.
    Dr Rajesh Kumar Bagga urged the private doctors that if any patient comes to their hospital/clinic, they should take samples on their own, package them properly and send them to the Health Department, from where they would be sent for further testing. He said that the process of collecting samples is very easy. He said that the Punjab health and family welfare department has decided to involve private hospitals in testing for covid-19 and will empanel these to take samples. These hospitals will only take samples, charging not more than Rs 1,000 for the service, with government facilities to carry out the actual test.
    “Government facilities will test these samples free of cost. It has been made mandatory that private hospital/clinics and labs should have a separate isolated area for suspected patients of covid-l9, where the sample will be taken. The person taking the sample should be in full protective gear,” he said.
    The private hospital will pack the sample in an ice-box and send it to the nearest government testing facility as per protocol. The hospitals would ensure filling all testing data, as per the protocol of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on the RT-PCR App, as RT-PCR is the name of the technique used in the test.
    He hoped that today’s training would help the doctors of private hospitals/clinics to a large extent. He promised to hold more such special trainings for private doctors in the days to come.
    IMA Ludhiana President Dr Sandeep Katyal assured the District Administration that the private doctors would assist the district administration and health department.
    Prominent among those present on the occasion included Dr Gurpreet Singh Wander, Dr Sandeep Puri, Dr Bishav Mohan, Dr Arun Mitra, besides several others.