Health Secy asks State to reduce mortality rate
Even though the chase the virus through tracing, tracking, testing and treatment has helped curb spread of Covid19 pandemic in Mumbai and couple of other districts, the Union Health Secretary Lav Agarwal at the virtual meeting with CM Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said the state can emerge as a role model for others if the same drive is continued with few more initiatives.
Agarwal emphasised the need for institutional quarantine, jumbo facilities and detection to reduce the cases and fatality rate.
Agarwal suggested that house-to-house visits should be continued while paying more attention to those who are still active patients. Further, 80% of the patient's contacts should be traced and tested within 72 hours and some new hotspots should be closely monitored. He emphasised the need to further bring down the mortality rate in the state. ‘’Elderly and those with other illnesses should come to the hospital early. This is necessary as generally the elderly people avoid coming to the hospitals and then when the condition becomes serious, they admit which may increase the death rate,’’ he noted.
He said that in 11 districts the mortality rate is more than the state’s average rate of 3.47%. He called upon the state government to focus on 10 major districts where 79% of coronavirus patients were found last week. He suggested the state government bring down mortality rate in the 10 districts including Pune (2.37%), Thane (2.72%), Mumbai (5.50%), Nashik (2.82%), Aurangabad (1.97%), Kolhapur (2.53%), Raigad (2.78%) Palghar (1.93%), Jalgaon (4.51%), and Ahmednagar (1.19%). At the all India level the fatality rate is 2.07%.