Society clubhouses, halls to be COVID Care Centres in Thane

Clubhouses and common halls of housing societies will serve as COVID Care Centres where any member, if he or she develops mild coronavirus symptoms, shall be shifted, the Thane Municipal Corporation said on Tuesday.

Patients with mild symptoms of coronavirus infection who are not experiencing any discomfort no longer need to go to a municipal quarantine centre, an official release said, quoting a decision by municipal commissioner Vijay Singhal.

If a coronavirus patient is found in a housing society and has only mild symptoms, the club house or multipurpose hall will serve as a COVIDCare Center (CCC) for such patients, it said.

The decision will lessen the congestion at hospitals and make more beds available, it said. In the next three days, president or secretary of housing society should register the COVID Care Center on its premises by email to `coronacelltmc@gmail.com', it said.

Outsiders, even relatives who are not members of the society, will not be able to enter the CCC. Admission to the CCC will be on the first-come-first-serve basis if there are more patients than its capacity.

Quarantined society members will be provided tea, food, snacks and other necessary things by their families. Family members should maintain necessary distance while handing over food and other things to patients, the release added.

Non-reusable plates and glasses should be used to feed the patients. Patients themselves should clean the COVID Care Centre or the staff wearing Personal Protection Equipment kit.

Further, doctors living in the society will tend to such patients, but if there is no doctor among society members, the society should approach the civic authorities. The patient or his/her family should pay honorarium to the doctors.

The societies should also procure a jumbo oxygen cylinder and oxygen supply mask, and contact the municipal corporation if they can not arrange the same, the TMC said.