Health staff shortage hinders active case tracing in Baddi

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, July 27

Tracing active cases in the densely-populated Baddi industrial area has become a major challenge for the understaffed Health Department. With Covid-19 cases surging in this industrial belt, a lockdown was imposed from midnight last Saturday till 6 am tomorrow. The health officials today visited 965 houses and covered 2,218 persons in Nalagarh and Baddi to trace active cases.

Baddi was among the areas where Covid cases were first detected, but the health officials, including medical and non-medical employees, had not been able to find positive cases.

Block Medical Officer Dr KD Jassal said that finding actives cases in a population of about one lakh in Baddi was not only time consuming but also a major challenge. Cases had emerged from every nook and corner of Baddi, and most of the 15 containment zones in the industrial cluster were in Baddi.

Nalagarh SDM Prashant Deshta said that a proposal to rope in anganwadi workers for the campaign had been mooted and if this workforce was available, the health staff could complete the task speedily.

He said that 150 staff members, including anganwadi workers, and employees of education and other departments, were involved in active case tracing at Jharmajri in April. He added that this helped in the speedy completion of the campaign and the emergence of fresh Covid-19 cases was effectively curtailed.

He said that there were 10 doctors at the community health centre at Nalagarh and six at the Civil Hospital, Baddi, besides 28 nurses to handle the Covid cases. Of 563 cases detected in Solan district, about 80 per cent pertained to the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial belt.

Dr Jassal said that 30 health officials today surveyed 965 houses having 2,218 persons in Nalagarh and Baddi.