New Delhi|Ekta:
Nowadays, the Narela quarantine centre has hit the headlines for all the good reasons. Being one among of the largest quarantine facility centres across the country, management of the centre through effective strategies has shown ways to several others who have been tasked to handle quarantine facilities for the COVID-19 positive patients.
The Narela quarantine, which was established on March 12 with an initial capacity of 100 beds, has now augmented its bed capacity for 1,500 patients.
Initially, the facility was set up to quarantine 100 foreign-returned Indians in Tower Number 30 of G2-G6 Block DDA Flats Narela. As the cases started increasing in Delhi, the capacity of this centre increased to 1,500 which is a substantial number.
Well equipped with all required facilities for sample collection, isolation, treatment for mild or asymptomatic patients and plasma collection has distinguished Narela quarantine centre from several others.
As per the officials concerned to handle the affairs of the centre, there was least challenges in preparing the essential facilities for COVID-19 suspects/patients as all the DDA flats were unoccupied so the basic infrastructures like plumbing and electrical were already installed which were made functional March 12 onwards.
Different teams of SDMs, engineers, doctors, district administration, revenue department staff, Delhi government teachers, etc are available round the clock in different shifts. Besides, section officers, ASOs have been deployed as shift staff and in-charge of different blocks.
The management of different towers have been distributed among the SDMs of Alipur, Narwal and Model Town. Towers 30-33 are under the supervision of SDM Alipur, while Towers 34-37 are under SDM Narwal and Towers 38-42 are under SDM Model Town.
Given the highly infectious nature of the disease, special care is being taken to maintain proper hygiene of the centre. All towers are attended medical officers, paramedical staff, sanitation workers, etc frequently round the clock.
Personnel of Delhi Police are available every time in the primes to ensure safety and security of doctors, healthcare workers and all other staff. The Delhi Police personnel also keep a vigil on the COVID-19 suspects and patients too.
One senior police official of ACP rank has been deployed as in-charge of premises to keep a tab on law and order issues in coordination with local administration and doctors of the centre. The teams of Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) along with civil defence volunteers are working in three different shifts and three ambulances are deployed round the clock at the centre. The DDMA team are working round the clock to receive COVID-19 patients and, if needed, shifting them to higher hospitals.
The facility centre is being regularly monitored by North District Magistrate Shinde Deepak Arjun. The DM takes a stock of the availability of all essential items such as PPEs, N-95 masks, sanitisation work, etc by taking a complete round of the premises and interacting with health workers, sanitisation staff, etc. Holding meetings with CEO DDMA, over all in-charge, NQC, SDMs, nodal officers of police, CDMO, DSO, medical officer in-charge, DDA, MCD, DJB, PWD, Army doctors for smooth management of the centre is the daily affair of the North DM.
Since, the access control is governed by Delhi police, so there is a controlled authorised entry/exit of the person and vehicles in the quarantine facility centre for the security and safety purpose. The entry and exit is assisted by the civil defence volunteers under the guidance of police in-charge deployed at the entry gate.
As of now, the centre has 550 negative cases under quarantine and around 600 COVID-19 patients and most of them have tested negative for the second and third time.
The Narela centre is also unique in itself as now cured patients are donating plasma for treatment of positive cases as a trial treatment methodology.
The quarantine centre is divided into different parts for better management of the disease. In total there are 15 towers and of which A and C block of towers 30-33 are meant for home quarantine facility, Tower 34-42 are only for COVID-19 positive cases.
There are dedicated towers for special cases from North district and BJRM. Separate towers have being dedicated for the infected paramilitary jawans which are being used for their accommodation.
There are separate teams for care taking, logistics, food, meal serving, food preparing, food distribution, daily need of inmates such as snacks, bed, mattress, fan, tea bag, biscuits, drinking packaged water supply, personal use items including towel, shop, mask etc.
The CTB is tasked to provide gloves, mask and sanitizers to staff on duty, while PWD is looking after two towers for civil and plumbing issue and DJB is supplying water tankers for staff, police and volunteers for regular handwash.
Besides all these, one shift i.e 8 am to 2 pm is completely looked after by Army medical team. They are looking after towers of 34-37. Apart from it, as many as above 200 Delhi govt officers, staffs, over 150 volunteers, DDA staff, engineers and workers are on duty to ensure seamless functioning of the facility centre.
It’s not the Narela quarantine centre came into operation at one go. It has come across some social challenges such as workers were reluctant in offering their services due to the stigma of getting infected. There was acute shortage of resources at initial stage which was overcome by Delhi government and North District Administration and Health Department. Now, the scenario has completely changed as the centre has sufficient number of PPE kits, masks, sanitizers and other emergency equipments.
Commenting on the facilities being provided by the district administration at the centre, Krishna Kumar, who is SDM Alipur, told Health Live that more than 200 people, which includes staff, officers, workers, doctors, paramedical, police, volunteers, are working tirelessly since March 16 with a great commitment, team spirit and dedication to serving the humanity and the country.
Kumar, who is also a senior officer of District North DM office, is the core member of the team managing Narela quarantine centre.
“Timely intervention whether it is asymptomatic or symptomatic cases would help in bringing down the coronavirus positive cases in Delhi. Request all to have faith in administration,” Kumar said.
Given the nature of infection, some of the staff are preferring to stay at makeshift arrangement such as hotels instead of going their home, while some are staying at quarantine centre. They have been explained in detailed at after a frequent interval about the dos and don’ts by medical teams. Inmates are also being briefed through public announcement system about precautionary measures that need to be taken during the course of treatment. A counselling session has also been conducted for jail inmates by the IBHAS.
The facility centre is allowed to admit foreign-returned Indians, special operation, positive cases of Azadpur, Rohini, Jahangirpuri, etc, positive cases of Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital, paramilitary/police/CDVs and other as well as quarantine persons.
The state government is providing breakfast, lunch, high tea and dinner to all who are at the centre for either treatment or spending their quarantine period. Apart from it, there are also getting religious food on their request. As per the MHA protocol, all who come at the centre for treatment or quarantine is provided with tea bag, sugar, kettle, sleeper, separate bed, bed-sheet, blanket, mosquito propellants, masks, handwash, soap, towel, etc.
Highlights
TOTAL OCCUPANCY: 1,258
550 negative cases on 14-day quarantine
129 patients shifted from AIIMS, Jhajhar tested negative
454 COVID-19 positive now tested negative
About 150 positive patients getting treatment
