Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SHP)

Bengaluru, Apr 23: Karnataka may have fewer cases compared to the rest of the country, it, unfortunately, does not fare well when it comes to fatality rate. The state's mortality rate is around 4 per cent higher than the national average which raises few alarms, stated chief secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar. To detect early COVID-19 cases, the Karnataka government has launched a door-to-door survey from Thursday. The survey will gather information on people who exhibit influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory illness (SARI). The survey will also collect information of patients with underlying ailments such as non-communicable diseases, TB and AIDS and pregnant women.

Over 50,000 booth-level officers (BLO) are being deployed for the task which will be completed within a week, Bhaskar was quoted in a report by ET.

Responding to the reason behind the high rate of fatalities in the state, Bhaskar said, "In most of the death cases, patients opted to visit private hospitals for treatment and it was too late by the time they were admitted to COVID-19 hospitals. Therefore, we are doing this survey to identify patients at an early stage, and ensure that proper medical intervention is given and lives are saved."

The reason behind deploying BLOs who are trained to update electoral rolls is to guarantee that every household mentioned in the electoral rolls is visited and contact details of the occupant of the house are entered in the register. Simultaneously, 50,000 ASHA workers and Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) will also be pressed into visiting houses every week to observe the health condition of people, especially high-risk category patients with underlying illness.

Some of the districts have already begun with the survey, a decision to do the state-wise survey will help in maintaining a common register of people with illness and symptoms. The health conditions of these people will then be constantly monitored by the government, the chief secretary said.

On completion of the BLOs' survey, patients with ILI and SARI will be taken to fever clinics and they will be tested for COVID-19 if required.

As observed in certain cases, private hospitals and medical clinics are not reporting the COVID-19 cases. Now, to avoid missing out on any COVID-19 patient a nodal officer will be appointed to keep a check on these activities. The officer will be visiting private hospitals regularly to gather information on patients displaying symptoms similar to that of a COVID-19 patient, Bhaskar said.

Meanwhile, the health department will keep a tab on medical stores who are selling medicines for flu-like illness. This will help the authorities to note that people with COVID-19 symptoms are opting for self-medication to avoid admission to government facilities.