Disinfectant tunnels planned at Vellore hospitals

Talking to DT Next, he said a prototype tunnel trial at Vellore Collector’s office was rejected as it had spray nozzles only at the top. “But we need to ensure that the total body of persons using the tunnel is sprayed and hence I have asked them to make suitable changes to it,” he said.

He further said that the state government had allocated to Vellore district a total of 76 Fowler’s cots, 344 normal cots, 19 multi parameter monitors, 250 mattresses, 12 pulse oximeters, 500 disposable ventilator circuits, 1,000 HME filters, 2,000 bacterial viral filters and 30 ventilators.

In addition to this, medical personnel were provided with PPE (personal protective equipment) including 250 N95 face masks and 4,200 triple layer masks, Shanmuga Sundaram informed. Referring to isolation exercises, he said 280 special teams comprising more than 2,000 staff visited 60,761 houses. Of the 2.42 lakh persons visited 315 have been isolated now.

Of the 1,756 persons isolated earlier in 783 houses, 1,209 had completed the mandatory 4-week quarantine period with the remaining 503 still in quarantine period, he added. Also for emergencies, a total of 283 buildings, including marriage halls had been identified to accommodate 35,112 patients he said.

Breaching of lockdown rules resulted in 275 shops being sealed with another 1,335 vehicles seized, the Collector said and added that a total of 2,372 persons had volunteered their services to join the battle against COVID-19. 

Vellore Superintendent of Police Pravesh Kumar said CCTV cameras were installed in the medical college hospital’s isolation ward with a drop gate being set up at the entrance for crowd control.

The check post in charge was provided with walkie-talkie and a cell phone for emergencies, he added.

Similarly, the isolation ward in the Pentland hospital was covered by eight CCTV cameras. The move was subsequent to reports in north India of those admitted to such wards misbehaving with the medical staff. However, Collector Shanmuga Sundaram said, “No such incidents were reported in Vellore hospitals where the demand was only for hot water or to change coffee to tea and vice versa.”