Beware of false info on social media: Eatala Rajender

Hyderabad: Minister for Health Eatala Rajender called upon the people not to believe false information or rumours particularly on social media regarding the new type of coronavirus believed to be behind a pneumonia outbreak in China.

The Minister pointed out that no positive case has been detected so far in Telangana. The government was closely monitoring the situation and would soon hold a review meeting with senior officials of the department on Wednesday.

The minister said the Central team was in Telangana to assess the preparedness and also visited hospitals where arrangements have been made to admit city passengers coming from China and having any related symptoms.

The three-member Central team comprising Prof Ajay Chauhan, Dr Shubha Garg and Dr Anitha Varma said they were here to assess the state of preparedness of the Telangana government.

Expressing satisfaction over the measures taken by the government, they said they would be submitting a report to the Centre and a copy of it would also be made available to the state government so that they could take necessary corrective measures in case any lapses were found.

The team on Tuesday met officials of Telangana health department, including Special Chief Secretary (Health) Santhi Kumari and discussed the end-to-end preparedness for management and control of the virus.

They also reviewed the arrangements to screen the passengers at the airport, including thermal screenings and transferring of patients to hospitals for isolation and availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) and masks.

The team visited Fever Hospital at Nallakunta where Superintendent Dr K Shankar briefed them about measures taken so far. The team enquired about infection control, surveillance and other guidelines being followed.

They inspected the isolation ward, with 40 beds, that was set up to admit patients with travel history to China and check for symptoms related to coronavirus and treat those whose reports test positive.

They interacted with medical staff and enquired about how samples are being taken, availability of gloves, goggles and safety kits, administering doses and disposing of precautions and sample sending procedures. The team also held an impromptu training to the staff.

The team however found that there were no proper ventilator support facilities in Fever Hospital which incidentally happens to be the nodal centre for nCoV cases, and also the fitness condition of the ambulances.

The Central team also spoke to a few patients from the city who were kept in isolation ward on Tuesday for assessment in view of their travel history to China.

Dr M Anuradha, senior Regional Director for TS and AP (GoI), stated that thermal screenings of passengers returning to the city were being conducted from January 20 onwards.

Passengers found to be having symptoms of fever, cold and cough are examined in a separate room at the airport and then shifted to Fever Hospital in an ambulance. They immediately collect blood samples of such travellers and send the samples to a lab in Pune.