PM Modi to interact with Varanasi's COVID frontline health workers; review hospitals

As India fights the second wave of COVID-19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to interact with doctors, paramedical staff and other frontline workers of his constituency Varanasi via videoconferencing on Friday. Earlier, PM Modi had sent his emissary, a long-time aide, AK Sharma to Varanasi with instructions to take proactive measures and make sure that COVID damage was controlled in his constituency. The Prime Minister's Office informed that PM Modi will review the working of COVID hospitals in his constituency including the  Pandit Rajan Mishra Covid Hospital which was built with the joint efforts of DRDO and the Indian Army. Apart from reviewing other non-COVID hospitals in the district, PM Modi will also the preparation to tackle the second wave of COVID in Varanasi and the preparedness for dealing with the pandemic in the future. 

The Varanasi model of COVID management under PMO's eyes

Known to be PM Modi's Man Friday for almost two decades, AK Sharma had landed in Varanasi on April 13 and set in motion his expertise as a seasoned administrator by setting up a 24/7 command and control room. With 20 dedicated phone lines and round-the-clock manpower, the Kashi COVID Response Centre became the hub of coordination between various arms of administration, as also interface with the people for seamless management of the situation. After a review, Sharma had ordered two oxygen plants, hundreds of oxygen cylinders and concentrators, and executed setting up of the DRDO COVID hospital to tide over the crisis in PM’s constituency. At a press briefing, Sharma had informed that all these efforts had borne fruit with the positivity rate of the district coming down from a high of 40% to just about 13%.  

PM Modi flags COVID vaccine wastage

In a meeting with CMs and DMs of ten states on Thursday, PM Modi said that wasting even a single dose will deny the chance to 'give a shield to a life'. He also lauded the DMs for their fieldwork and urged them to communicate social distancing and masking guidelines to villages."There is an issue of vaccine wastage. Wasting even a single dose means not being able to give a shield to a life. It is important to stop vaccine wastage, " said PM Modi. Highlighting the revised vaccine guidelines, he added, "Even to strategise vaccination drive, we are moving forward with suggestions given by States & other stakeholders. Health Ministry is providing information to the states regarding vaccines for 15 days. Vaccine supply will help you in managing vaccination timelines."

Addressing the DMs, PM added, "Coronavirus has made your work more demanding and challenging. In the midst of new challenges, we need new strategies & solutions, With your fieldwork, your experiences & feedback, we get help to form effective policies. In my experience, if the right message is sent across rural people at the right time, they follow it religiously. But clarity has to be there. Virus mutation is concerning wrt children and young."