BBMP adopts 'Mumbai model' to rein in Covid-19

The government has directed the BBMP to immediately constitute Ward Decentralised Triage and Emergency Response (Ward DETER) Committee in all 198 wards

With Covid-19 patients in Bengaluru struggling to find beds and oxygen, the state government is taking a cue from Mumbai and decided to constitute ward-level committees for efficient Covid care management.

There is a 12-hour delay from the identification to admission of a Covid-positive patient due to "inefficient mechanisms", a government order said on Saturday.

To overcome this problem, the government has now directed the BBMP to immediately constitute Ward Decentralised Triage and Emergency Response (Ward DETER) Committee in all 198 wards under its limits.

These committees will follow colour coding to help Covid patients secure timely treatment. Top priority of triage services will be to ensure admission of those in the red code followed by yellow. The team will also attend to patients who can be treated at home.

The committees will micro-monitor the situation in each ward and make sure that those who require oxygen find support within two hours. That apart, committee members will also have to ensure that the bed availability is managed effectively.

A person with severe illness has to be discharged within 10 days and a person with moderate illness has to be shifted to Covid Care Centre within five days, failing which an explanation has to be provided, according to the order.

Read | People will face arrest if found violating lockdown rules, warns Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant

"This decentralised ward committee system has helped Mumbai reduce cases. Since experts have also warned of a third wave, it was important for us to implement it in Bengaluru," said Forest, Kannada and Culture minister Aravind Limbavali, who is in charge of Covid war room call centre management.

The committees will be headed by the ward nodal officer who will be the chairperson of the committee. In addition to the existing ward committee members, the WDCs will comprise government officials, RWAs and volunteers, all of whom will receive appropriate training.

Each ward committee will have to assign a committee member as a 'Triage Coordinator'. This person will have support staff including a local doctor, nurses and volunteers.

The Health and Family Welfare Department and the Medical Education Department will provide the support staff, the government order said.

The committees will coordinate locally to reduce delay in releasing results, avoid panic among those testing positive, take up contact tracing of every case in the ward apart from ensuring maximum vaccination coverage.