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Tamil Nadu constitutes Covid-19 War Room; appoints 8 officers

The constitution of the Covid-19 War Room is one of the first decisions of new Chief Minister M K Stalin even before he assumed office
Last Updated 18 June 2021, 12:35 IST

The Tamil Nadu government has constituted a War Room that will function as a single nodal point for Covid-19 containment efforts like requirement of oxygen, bed availability in both private and government medical facilities, and monitoring requests for admissions or support to critically-ill patients.

The War Room which will function as the Unified Command Centre (UCC) will be headed by senior bureaucrat Dr Darez Ahmed, while K Nanthakumar IAS will be the nodal officer for state oxygen monitoring and emergency response. Six more officers have also been appointed to oversee several activities related to Covid-19 prevention/controlling efforts.

The constitution of the Covid-19 War Room is one of the first decisions of new Chief Minister M K Stalin even before he assumed office. Officials said the Command Centre has been established to help manage the Covid-19 crisis by creating situational awareness of the most urgent issues in the Covid-19 crisis such as bed and oxygen availability in Tamil Nadu and directing the public on the same.

“The Unified Command Centre will monitor the Government of Tamil Nadu's bed management portal to understand the dynamic vacancy status and support the general public who are in need of appropriate Covid beds. The Command Centre will liaison with line departments, Industries department & GCC PWD, to increase the bed availability in the State,” an order issued by Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu dated May 8, 2021, said.

The UCC can act and ensure that all treating hospitals (government & private) should admit and resuscitate 'Code Red' patients on a priority basis referred by UCC, the order said, adding that the UCC through field inspections teams will also monitor both government and private health facilities.

Tamil Nadu has over 1.39 lakh active cases with the state adding over 25,000 fresh positive cases a day. With several patients now requiring oxygen support, the state's oxygen requirement has also gone up. After the state's request, the Centre has allotted 419 MT oxygen to Tamil Nadu.

The Unified Command Centre will provide support in increasing the Covid-19 bed capacity and ensuring the availability of oxygen in both the government and private hospitals, new Health Minister Ma Subramanian said on Saturday that the state will add another 12,000-plus oxygen beds in the next few days.

Enhancing response capabilities of 108, 104 and 102 and also social media handles of 104 and field inspection of all empanelled (under CMCHIS) and non-empanelled private medical colleges and hospitals in and around Chennai, major medical colleges and other dedicated Covid hospitals in and around Chennai are some of the other activities the UCC will oversee.

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(Published 09 May 2021, 13:26 IST)

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