He has his hands full amid the pandemic

A day in the life of A public health administrator

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 14

Extended working hours, no weekly offs and switching between his different roles has become a routine for Amardeep Singh, deputy mass education and information officer with the district’s Health Department.

Starting early by answering phone calls to addressing queries from the data (regarding positive cases and casualties) sent to the state authorities the previous day, Amardeep’s day also ends with feeding information regarding the day’s update to journalists till late in the evening. “A little confusion or a discrepancy in data means trouble,” he quips.

Talking about his role ever since the pandemic struck, Amardeep says, “After I reach office in the morning, I work to ensure that the day’s video-conferencing of the district officials with the state authorities goes smoothly.”

Once the meetings are over, it is time to catch up with three mobile sample collection teams. In between are the visits to private hospitals where serious patients are undergoing treatment or from where casualties have been reported. This is not it, visits to a few of the 68 sample collection centres in the district is another addition apart from data compilation and sending it to the state authorities.

With the Health Department planning to rope in private hospitals for taking samples of suspected patients in order to increase testing, the training of hospital employees is also being organised under his supervision. “My day ends at around 9 pm daily; a little early as compared to the initial days of the pandemic when everybody was working till late night,” he shares.

Being out for most of the day, he is extremely vulnerable to the virus as the persons he meet could be infected. Amardeep reveals he would worry a lot about his family. “Now, we all have got accustomed to the new routine. I take ample precautions on reaching home but inside I seldom worry,” he tells.

"After I reach office in the morning, I work to ensure that the day's video-conferencing of the district officials with the state authorities goes smoothly. My day ends around 9 pm daily; a little early as compared to the initial days of the pandemic, when everybody was working till late night." —Amardeep Singh, Deputy Mass Education, Info officer with Health Dept