Adityanath surveys flood situation, reviews Covid-19 readiness in eastern UP

He directed the Gorakhpur district administration to ensure adequate deployment of boats in the flood-hit areas. During the inspection of the railway hospital, the chief minister inaugurated a remote-operated robotic trolley, a North-Eastern Railway official said.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath conducted an aerial survey of the areas inundated by heavy rainfall in Gorakhpur district and reviewed COVID-19 preparations in other parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. He inspected the preparations for making Lalit Narayan Mishra Railway Hospital and AIIMS-Gorakhpur L-2 hospitals for treatment of COVID-19 patients. He said the L-2 hospitals should be ready at the earliest, the UP government said in a statement.

Officials said one 50-bed ward for coronavirus patients is being set up in AIIMS-Gorakhpur. After inspecting the water level, he asked flood and irrigation department officials to constantly monitor and ensure all dams remain safe. He directed the Gorakhpur district administration to ensure adequate deployment of boats in the flood-hit areas.

During the inspection of the railway hospital, the chief minister inaugurated a remote-operated robotic trolley, a North-Eastern Railway official said. "The multipurpose robotic trolley for treatment of COVID-19 patients is developed with the resources at Gorakhpur railway mechanical workshop. The trolley will be helpful in maintaining social distance between patients and hospital staff and the consumption of personal protection equipment will be decreased at hospital, the official said.

"The trolley is capable of reaching medicines and food to patients with pace and cleanliness. With the help of equipment in the trolley, the fever of the patient could be measured from distance and the trolley has 360-degree cloud camera based on HD vision App and with the help of camera, doctors will be able to talk to patients virtually through video calling. The 50-kg weight capacity trolley's range is 25 metre and after getting fully charged it could work for 2 hours continuously," he said. Adityanath also visited Ballia and reviewed the COVID-19 preparations in Azamgarh division. He instructed officials to carry out 1,000-to-1,500 tests per day in Azamgarh and Ballia districts, and at least 1,000 tests each day in Mau.

Instructions were also issued to ensure that 50 per cent of the beds in L-1 COVID hospitals and all the beds of the L-2 COVID hospitals get oxygen facility. The divisional commissioner and DIG were instructed to carry out regular visits in their districts. Stress was laid on deploying adequate teams in Ballia for house-to-house survey, and take effective steps to stop the spread of the infection. Instructions were issued to improve the working of the Integrated COVID Command Centre in these districts, the surveillance process and data feeding.

Adityanath also inspected the district hospital, and reviewed the flood preparations, a second statement issued by the UP government said. Later, he reviewed the COVID-19 preparations, infection control and treatment in various districts which come under the Varanasi division.

The chief minister said antigen tests should be done on a large-scale, and conditions of home isolation should be strictly adhered to. The health department should undertake door-to-door survey. During surveillance, the public should be made aware. A comprehensive cleanliness and sanitisation campaign should be undertaken on Saturdays and Sundays during the weekend lockdown.

'Do gaj ki doori, mask zaroori (two yard distance, mask is necessary)' should be adhered to. At the meeting in Varanasi, district magistrates of Varanasi, Ghazipur, Jaunpur and Chandauli briefed about various steps taken by them, the UP Government said in a statement.