Citizen groups raise concern over Covid management in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: A group of citizen organizations and active citizens of Bengaluru have come together and written an open letter to Chief Minister B.S.Yediyurappa expressing their concerns over the COVID management in the city.

The open letter has highlighted the need to improve health infrastructure.

In the backdrop of volunteers and family members of patients making desperate calls and sending messages to find sources for help, the citizens have stated that helplines often hard to get through.

"Numbers include 1912, 108, zonal numbers, oxygen helpline etc. If people get 108 first, they take an ICU even if it is not required, since HDU beds/oxygen are harder to get. Information leads floating around online (Twitter, WhatsApp messages) are often not valid, leading to frustration. Volunteers or family members of patients are unable to get quick, ready-to- use information," the letter read.

There is a lack of clarity and transparency about SOP and protocols and the citizens have remarked that they don't have an idea about the responsibilities of multiple officials.

"People are not getting any medical service without BU number, the time taken from SRF number to BU number on an average 5 days. We saw two deaths - one patient got his BU number positive, he was critical by then so he died in hospital, the other patient got his BU number just after his death in an ambulance with massive heart attack and his BU number came later and it was negative

Meanwhile, we are getting distress calls from daily-wage workers, and vulnerable communities for relief support. Children are in a vulnerable situation if all family members are hospitalized," the letter read.

The civic society has been supporting the government to prepare a unified database of information with verified details in coordination with Sankalpa -https://karnatakafightscorona.org (Covid Resource Directory).

Resident associations including Bangalore Apartments Federation (BAF) are helping residents in distress, enforcing curfew and protocols, scheduling vaccination camps. They have aided the government in implementing their orders on masks and physical distance norms, as well as citizen campaigns like 'Stop Spitting'.

Recommendations

♦ The citizens demand that the government urgently implement the following measures

Helpline and support

♦ One single number for all needs with the number of lines scaled up to meet the needs attended by trained triage volunteers or professionals. It would be good to inform callers requesting beds, how long they are likely to be in the queue (similar to what banks / service companies have!)

♦ Ward-level war rooms -- for local triage to quickly identify cases for home isolation or isolation at COVID Care Centres. This will reduce the load on the hospitals. PHCs can be upgraded to support them.

♦ Quick processing of test results -- Ensure that test results reach ward-level triage rooms asap so the information can be passed on to patients immediately. Delays in getting test results is worsening the problem as patients are getting impatient and may also inadvertently infect others around them.

♦ Covid Care Centres at the Ward/Panchayat level for those from marginalised communities who are not able to isolate themselves at home Communication

♦ Communicate and build confidence. BBMP Commissioner must hold daily online meetings open to all -- press, public and RWAs (as has been done in the past) with latest updates - this can be streamed by media sites as well as television channels. Hearing regularly from top leadership in the local government can be a tremendous comfort factor and will assuage most concerns.