SILCHAR, May 11 - A day after taking charge, Cachar Deputy Commissioner Keerthi Jalli visited the Inter State Bus Terminus (ISBT) at Ramnagar here to take stock of the arrangements for screening of passengers and allied acitivities regarding COVID-19.
The Deputy Commissioner, adhering to the government decision to arrange a centralised throat swab sample collection centre, chose the ISBT, instead of sending passengers coming from other states to the Silchar Medical College and Hospital.
Jalli visited the ISBT and took stock of the proceedings there. She interacted with police officials and asked health officials to conduct screenings by strictly adhering to social distancing norms.
Besides screening of passengers from other states, swab samples shall be collected at the ISBT instead of sending the passengers to SMCH, which will consume plenty of time and need resources like the 108 emergency ambulances. After collection of samples by laboratory technicians with full PPE kits, the passengers would be sent to institutional quarantine centres, an official said.
Out of 2,659 persons kept in quarantine across Cachar district, 2,551 are under home quarantine while others including doctors, nurses and paramedical staff are being kept in various designated institutional quarantine centres.
The Deputy Commissioner also visited Silchar Civil Hospital along with Additional Deputy Commissioner Sumit Sattawan and other officials. She visited the Health Control Room at the hospital and took stock of the response system process. She also visited the hospital campus along with the Superintendent and reviewed the quarantine and isolation facilities.
Dr SJ Das, Joint Director of Health Services; Dr Ajit Bhattacharjee, District Surveillance Officer (DSO) under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), and Rahul Ghose, DPM accompanied Jalli.
Death of Mizoram-returned man at SMCH: Following the death of a 16-year-old girl in Guwahati who was later found COVID-19 positive, the death of a person from Silcoorie area here at the SMCH has triggered great curiosity in Cachar.
SMCH vice principal Dr Bhaskar Gupta said the person, identified as Rajesh Sonar, aged around 35 years and a resident of Silcoorie, died at the hospital on May 9 after suffering from kidney and jaundice complications.
According to sources, Sonar had returned from Mizoram on May 5 and was taken to SMCH on May 7 after his health deteriorated. Dr Gupta said swab samples of the deceased person have been collected for COVID-19 test and his body will be handed over to his family after the results are available.
