Ministry of Health and Family Welfare releases guidelines for management of COVID in peri-urban, rural and tribal areas.
On 16th May, 2021 the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released the standard operating procedure to be followed for the containment and management of COVID in peri-urban, rural and tribal areas. Some of the key highlights have been reproduced below-
In every village, active surveillance should be done for influenza-like illness/ severe acute respiratory infections(ILI/SARI) periodically by ASHA with help of Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Committee (VHSNC). Symptomatic cases can be triaged at village level by tele-consultation with Community Health Officer (CHO), and cases with comorbidity/low oxygen saturation should be sent to higher centres. Every sub-centre should run an ILI/SARI OPD for a dedicated time slots/days.
CHOs and ANMs should be trained in performing Rapid Antigen Testing. Provision of Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) kits should be made at all public health facilities including Sub-centres (SCs)/ Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) and Primary Health Centres (PHCs). These patients should also be counselled to isolate themselves till test results are available.
Monitoring of oxygen saturation is important for monitoring of COVID patients. For this it is desirable for each village to have adequate number of pulse oximeters and thermometers. The VHSNC through local PRI and administration should mobilize resources to make provisions for these equipments. A system of providing the pulse oximeters and thermometers on loan to families with a confirmed case of COVID should be developed through ASHA/ Anganwadi workers and village-level volunteers.
A Home Isolation kit shall be provided to all such cases which should include required medicines such as Paracetamol 500 mg, Tab. Ivermectin, cough syrup, multivitamins (as prescribed by the treating doctor) besides a detailed pamphlet indicating the precautions to be taken, medication details, monitoring proforma for patient condition during the home isolation, contact details in case of any major symptoms or deterioration of health condition and the discharge criteria.
