Amaravati, April 16 : Amid rising coronavirus infections across the country, Andhra Pradesh government has revived the state Covid command and control centre, assigning as many as 35 bureaucrats with various responsibilities across the state.
“The Covid pandemic being dynamic in nature, to take appropriate measures to handle the evolving situation in the state of AP, the government hereby revives the state Covid command and control centre with the following officers,” said chief secretary Aditya Nath Das on Thursday.
Senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer M.T.Krishna Babu is entrusted with the job of food and sanitation quality in Covid hospitals and Covid care centres (CCCs).
Likewise, senior bureaucrat M.Ravi Chandra has been assigned with the job of primary contact tracing, testing and testing on demand facility.
Similarly, other senior officers have been tasked with the job of monitoring help desk and CCTVs, effective functioning of 104 call centres, lab management and Covid services in all Aarogyasree hospitals and procurement of essential medicines and supplies to Covid hospitals.
Other duties for the senior officers include ensuring medical oxygen supply, clinical management protocols, availability of essential drugs and other consumables to Covid hospitals, publicity, media and social media and availability of essential drugs consumables in Covid hospitals.
Given the notorious legacy of profiteering private hospitals, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Abhishek Mohanty, has been dedicatedly tasked with the job of monitoring complaints about private hospitals and particularly on the crime of excessive treatment charges.
Likewise, 10 young IAS officers at the level of under secretary have been assigned with the job of attending 104 call centres duty.
They include Chahat Bajpai, G.Surya Sai Praveen, Bhawna, Mallarapu Naveen, V.Abishek, Aparajita Singh Sinsinwar, C.Vishnu Charan, Nidhi Meena, Katta Simhachalam and Vikas Marmat.
Focusing on the districts, Das said 13 officers have been deputed to a district each to monitor and guide the district administration in taking necessary steps for coronavirus management and vaccination.
All the 13 officers have been directed to report to their respective districts immediately and attend the chief minister’s video conference with district collectors on Friday.
Andhra Pradesh on Thursday reported 5,086 new Covid-19 cases, raising the tally over 9.39 lakh, while the state’s active cases breached the 31,000-mark to reach 31,710
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