Chandigarh, May 18: To incentivise villages to give upvaccine hesitancy, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesdayannounced a special development grant of Rs.10 lakh to every village thatachieves 100% vaccination target under the state government’s 'Corona Mukt PindAbhiyan'.
Appealing to Sarpanches and Panches across the state to leadtheir villages in the fight against Covid, the Chief Minister urged them tomotivate the people to undergo testing even in case of mild symptoms, and to get themselves vaccinated.
He was interacting virtually with village Panchayatsrepresented by more than 2000 heads/members across over 4000 live locations inthe rural parts of the state through LED screens. He informed them that hisGovernment had already sanctioned permission for Sarpanches to utilize uptoRs.5000 per day from Panchayat funds for emergency Covid treatment, upto amaximum of Rs.50,000.
Underlining the need to sensitize the rural population aboutthe harmful effects of corona and the importance of early detection andtreatment to save precious lives, the Chief Minister said this could only bedone through special awareness campaigns. He asked the Panchayats to organizespecial medical camps, and to rope in the services of ex-servicemen, who hadfought several wars during their active service career and were now part of thestate’s fight against the pandemic.
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He asked the Sarpaches and Panches to start 'theekri pehra'in their villages to prevent infected persons from coming in, and alsodistribute Fateh Kits to every person who tests positive, besides ensuringproper treatment in case oxygen saturation level goes below 94%. He also urgedthe people living in villages to immediately quarantine themselves in case ofany symptoms, and get themselves tested to ensure early detection of theinfection. Any laxity or complacency on their part could lead to severecomplications at the later stage, which often has fatal results, said CaptainAmarinder. Pointing out that Punjab has an extensive healthcare network with 2046health and wellness centres, and another 800 to be made functional soon, heasked the Panches and Sarpanches to avail the healthcare services at thesecentres for the treatment of villagers infected with corona.
The Chief Minister further said that the State Governmentwas making all-out efforts to procure sufficient stocks of vaccine from varioussources for inoculation of 18+ age group, besides constantly pursuing withCentre for more vaccine doses for its population of above 45 years. He said earlier,when the state government had adequate supply of vaccines, the people were notforthcoming for inoculation, but now the trend was reversed, with people comingin huge numbers.
Calling for collective efforts and cooperation among all tocheck the spread of the virus,’ the Chief Minister said, "I alone can't doanything as a Captain the concerted efforts jointly put in by the team willhelp us achieve our goal". While the cases had come down from a dailyaverage of around 9000 to 6947 on May, the situation continued to be grim, withmany people still dying, mainly because they were seeking medical interventiontoo late to help them. This, he said, was evident from the fact with 64%occupancy of level 2 beds and 85% at level 3. "Had these people sought medicalaid at initial stage eventually several precious lives could have beensaved," he added.
The Chief Minister exhorted villagers to strictly adhere tothe health protocols and guidelines issued by the state government from time totime. He said the state government had set up 24x7 helpline '104' forassistance, with all the home isolation patients being monitored through dailycalls by health teams. They were also being given food kits comprising 10 kgAtta, 2 kg Chana, 2 kg sugar for each member of the family, in addition to 10kg Atta being provided by the Government of India. Food kits to all poorpatients, who tested positive, are also being provided as they lose their wagesfor two weeks or more. Apart from these, he said he had ordered 5 lakh foodkits for the poor who are adversely impacted by Covid restrictions. He pointedout that the Punjab Police Bhojan Helpline '112' was also responding to callsround the clock for providing to Covid patients.
Earlier, Rural Development & Panchayats Minister TriptRajinder Singh Bajwa requested the Panchayat Members to come forward to supportthe government's endeavour to control the Covid situation, especially in thosevillages where corona cases were on therise. He also advised people of villages not to rely on quacks etc but toconsult the doctors in the government primary health centres in the ruralareas.
Health & Family Welfare Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu saidthat the health department had already placed an order for 12 lakh kits forRapid Antigen Test (RAT) to detect the corona cases at the initial stage. Heemphasized on the need to further intensify the joint efforts of Guardians ofGovernance (GoGs), ASHA & Anganwadi workers along with health workers tolaunch a vigorous door to door campaign for testing in villages.
Advisor to Health Department, Dr. KK Talwar, brieflyoutlined the action plan to control the spread of Coronavirus in the villagesand asked the rural masses to wear mask, observe social distancing especiallyat gatherings, and avoid unnecessary travel.
Earlier, Sarpanches Sessiondeep Kaur from village ManakKhana in Bathinda district, Surjit Kaur (village Sarangwal, Hoshiarpur),Lakhwant Singh (village Saafuwal, Moga), Gurdeep Kaur (village Khanaura,Patiala) and Kashmir Singh from village Mehta in Amritsar gave theirsuggestions on further strengthening the existing healthcare infrastructure inthe villages. They also apprised the Chief Minister about the steps undertakenby them to ensure compliance with the Covid safety guidelines and making peopleaware about the significance of vaccination.