New Delhi: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Thursday said that the state government, which has placed on order one lakh additional rapid testing kits, will use them only if the Centre validates its use.
In an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat News Editor Nishant Sharma, Jain spoke about the evolving COVID-19 situation in the national capital, and his government's response to the pandemic.
Here are excerpts from the interview:
Q - As the Health Minister, what do you say about the COVID-19 situation in Delhi?
As of today, there are 2156 COVID-19 positive cases in Delhi. Yesterday, 75 new cases were reported, while a total of 180 patients have recovered till now. The total number of deaths stand at 47. So, in total, there are 1498 active cases now, out of which 27 patients are in ICU while five are on ventilator support.
Q - There have been complaints that private hospitals are showing an apathetic attitude towards patients or putting up conditions to admit them.
With regards to COVID-19, the Centre has split the cases into three categories.
In the first category, asymptomatic cases and those exhibiting only mild symptoms are included. These patients need to put up at the Corona Care Centres.
The second category includes those exhibiting moderate symptoms, who need to be kept at dedicates health centres.
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Finally, the third category includes those with serious symptoms, who need to be admitted to dedicates hospitals.
As far as private hospitals are concerned, Delhi has three such hospitals catering to the third category patients. While 90 per cent of the cases need not be admitted to these hospitals, the Delhi government has made arrangements for patients of all three categories. Regardless of where the patients are from, they will be provided free treatment.
Q - Rajasthan has already stopped rapid testing, and even the ICMR has asked states to stop it. Apart from the 42,000 kits received from the Centre, the Delhi government has also spoken about obtaining one lakh additional kits. What will be your stand on the issue?
Currently, the Centre is in the process of validating the kits that they gave us. A temporary two-day ban has been put in place. However, the order we had placed for the one lakh kits, is with the same company. So, only if the Centre validates the kits will we obtain them.
Q - In the Delhi health bulletin, the Markaz column was first removed, followed by the special operation column which replaced it. Why was this done?
We removed the Markaz column as all of the Markaz-related individuals have been tested. At the same time, there has been no new case reported in the past one week, so keeping that column blank makes no sense. Hence, it was removed. Out of the people who were rescued from the Markaz under the secial operation, around 1080 people tested positive. Again, as no new case has been reported in the last one week, the column has been removed.
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