Breaking Covid-19 chain a litmus test for Telangana

Hyderabad: Containing Covid-19 has become a litmus test for the efficacy of the State government with the virus fight getting longer. Though the government has been playing a proactive role in checking the spread, the virus continues to stretch its tentacles to new areas forcing the government to put the performance of the district medical and health officers across the state under the scanner.

The State government which had sent some senior-most officials to various districts has concluded that the DMHOs have not been playing their role as effectively as they should have been doing. Suryapet did not even figure initially in the list of 8 hotspot districts in Telangana announced by the Centre, but it was included after the sudden spurt of cases over the last week. An assessment made by Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar and the team of senior officials, including DGP Mahender Reddy, decided to transfer the DMHO of Suryapet, Dr Niranajan.

The DMHO of Yadadri Bhongir district, Sambasiva Rao, has been asked to handle the situation in Suryapet. Rao, it may be mentioned here, had received appreciation from the Chief Minister for making Bhongir a virus-free district. The team expressed their displeasure over the performance of Dr Niranjan since the number of positive cases shot up to 80 in just one week. This team also visited Gadwal and Vikarabad districts, where the number of cases was increasing abnormally.

The Chief Secretary issued strict orders to the Revenue and Municipal authorities to pull up their socks and work in coordination with the medical staff to free Suryapet from the pandemic by May 7. The graph has to be flattened by May 7, the team made it clear to all the officials concerned.

The officials were irked to note that the medical authorities in Gadwal had failed to control the spread of the virus despite the state government extending full help and cooperation. The team visited the affected areas for an on-the-spot assessment of who failed and where. They also sought an explanation from the medical authorities on their failure. They found out that the officials had failed in tracing secondary contact cases and identify positive cases in time.

The team emphasised on the need to play a proactive role and effectively co-ordinating with various line departments like the police, municipal, revenue, etc, to minimize the spread of the deadly virus.