By Sumit Kumar Singh

New Delhi, May 9 (IANS): It took the Delhi Police death of one of its constable from the deadly Coronavirus to wake up and put in place a Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for daily monitoring of personnel and reporting unwell persons to a doctor without any delay.

The police constable who died after contracting Covid-19 was allegedly denied admission in hospitals in the national Capital.

The Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) issued by Police Commissioner S.N. Shrivastava makes it necessary to immediately tender all medical facilities to the personnel infected with the deadly virus. Police personnel form a major chunk of the covid warriors who are at the forefront of the battle against the pandemic.

The objective of the SOPs is monitoring of possible suspected infection and and timely intervention, the guidelines say.

As per the SOPs issued by Shrivastava, the Station House Officer (SHO) or inspector in-charge of the unit will be responsible for the monitoring of personnel and future action if required.

It says in case of medical emergencies or a suspected case the SHO or inspector in-charge of unit will be responsible for taking them to a doctor and deciding whether a coronavirus test is required.

If required the test shall be organised and further action -- whether the person should be hospitalised or sent in home quarantine will be taken based on doctor's opinion.

"The SHOs shall sensitise staff during morning briefing on procedures to be followed," the guidelines stated.

If any person complains of fever, breathlessness should be taken to the nearest facility with COVID19 testing and emergency facilities.

The guidelines list out seven hospitals -- AIIMS, Apollo, Safdarjung hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash, Deen Dayal Upadhyay and Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality.

The Joint Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners of Police will be responsible for effective training and implementation of the SOPs, respectively.

The guidelines have been put in place on May 7 a day after Delhi Police constable Amit Kumar died after his colleagues took him to hospitals but he was not admitted.

The constable was the first death in Delhi Police due to the COVID19.

"In total 100 policemen are affected with Covid positive and out of them 20 after recovering from the deadly virus has joined back the service," said Shrivastava.