DHS to tour five N Bengal districts -GTA begins TrueNat machine installation

SNS, SILIGUR1, 31 AUGUST 2020 : Director of health services (DHS) Dr Ajay Chakraborty and director, medical education (DME), Prof Debasis Bhattacharya, will be on a four-day tour of five north Bengal districts, beginning tomorrow.

Health department sources said the visit will lay focus especially on Covid-19 management, tests, survey, treatment of patients, infrastructure of hospitals for Covid-19 patients and other aspects.

"This will be for the first time that the DHS and DME will tour north Bengal since the Covid 19 outbreak," sources said.

It is leamt that they will visit the Biswa Bangla Covid Hospital in Jalpaiguri tomorrow and hold an administrative meeting with the district level health and general administration. Health officials will chair a similar meeting in Alipurduar on 2 September. They will hold a district level administrative meeting in CoochBehar the same day. In Kalimpong, they will review the situation in an administrative meeting with district level health and administration officials on 3 September, sources said.

They will address another meeting at Uttarkanya in Siliguri for Darjeeling district after returning from Kalimpong on 3 September. They will visit the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital to review the situation on 4 September.

One patient dies

A 64 -year-old resident of Alipurduar died at a dedicated hospital for Covid-19 patients at Kawakhali in Siliguri today.

Eighty Covid cases in Darjeeling district

Eighty Covid-19 cases were recorded in Darjeeling district in the past 24 hours, sources said. The Siliguri Municipal Corporation witnessed 36 cases, of which 17 are in the corporation areas falling in the district Seventeen cases have been found in Matigara, 13 in Naxalbari, five cases in Kharibari and four in Phansidewa blocks in the plains. Fifteen cases were detected in Pulbazaar, three in Sukhia Pokhari, three in Takdah, and one case each in Darjeeling and Kurseong municipalities.

Fifty-six patients have been discharged from government facilities and from home isolation, the sources added.

Malda dip continues

Continuing with its downward trend in Covid- 19 cases, Malda detected 43 new cases in tests conducted in theVRDL in the Malda Medical College and Hospital last night. With the fresh cases, the number of cases in the district now nears the 5000 mark, with 750 active cases and 39 deaths so far, sources said.

On the other hand, the state wide lockdown was strictly followed in Malda today While there were incidents when vegetable markets opened in Sahapur and Old Malda, lockdown violators were made to do sit-ups by the police in Harishchandrapur. Police across the district also detained around 100 persons for violating the lockdown.

GTA begins TrueNat machine installation

The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration today said it has started installation of TrueNat machines in the GTA region, and that six such machines will beset up at different places in the region soon, including two at the Darjeeling District Hospital, one at the Kurseong Hospital, one in theMirik Block Hospital, one at the Tribeni Hopsital in Kalimpong and one at the Gorubathan Hospital.

"The TrueNAT machines will be available to perform tests with the help of experienced molecular biologists and technicians in-house," GTA chairman Anit Thapa said today.

"We have been following the '3Ts' of management--Test, Track and Trust. The overall tests has increased by 1500% month on month. We have increased the number of tests by using Antigen testing kits. The tests are not only limited to the urban areas but are also done even the remotest of places," Mr Thapa said.

"The GTA's surveillance committee has been actively working to make sure we are able to track and keep a tab on as many identified and suspected cases as possible, " he added.

"Situations like this create lots of mistrusts and discriminations amongst people; we have seen many examples where our people have exhibited discrimination against the people who returned from outside, patients and with their families. GTA was quite active and vocal about these issues; we opposed and we educated the people; we tried to enlighten people to enable them to fight the virus and not their fellow mates," Mr Thapa said.