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Ground laid for easing of lockdown
Dr. Paba Palihawadana
As a new date a week away was announced for the easing of the lockdown in high-risk areas including Colombo, a high-level health official said firm ground preparations are in place, whenever the country goes back to the ‘new normal’ situation.
The Health Ministry is constantly monitoring how hospitals are managing the situation in the 22 districts where curfew has been lifted and the lockdown eased, said the Health Ministry’s Deputy Director-General (DDG) of Public Health Services, Dr. Paba Palihawadana.
Samples from the community in Kalutara being collected by Dr. Lasantha Krishan Hirimuthugoda, the COVID-19 focal point at the Kalutara District General Hospital
The outpatients’ departments (OPDs) and clinics are functioning in all state hospitals in the 22 districts and procedures including triaging patients to identify those affected by COVID-19 are going on smoothly, Dr. Palihawadana told the Sunday Times.
“We are also checking transport services and our Medical Officers of Health (MOHs) and Public Health Inspectors (PHIs) are keeping an eye on markets and shops to ensure social distancing, face-mask wearing, etc.,” she said, stressing that the ministry’s Disaster Management Unit is checking on all these measures as well. There is a “big effort” on the part of this unit and observation visits are also on the cards.
Dr. Palihawadana said that all ante-natal and immunization clinics are now functioning in the 22 districts, with staff adhering to strict safety protocols.
Explaining that the ministry’s Directorate of Environmental Health, Occupational Health and Food Safety has put out detailed ‘Interim Operational Guidelines on Preparedness and Response for COVID-19 Outbreak for Work Settings’, the DDG pointed out that in addition to the general guidelines, there are also specific guidelines for the manufacturing industry; government and private offices; hospitality industry; restaurants and eateries; supermarkets; public transport, when hosting events, economic centres; universities and more. In an addendum, guidelines for the building & construction industry have also been provided.
Referring to the large clusters of COVID-19 infected people detected in Colombo, she said that testing is revealing that people living along Bandaranayake Mawatha are now negative, while those sent to quarantine centres from there are about to come out. There are no new positives from Suduwella in Ja-ela.
The big cluster – 260 people as of Thursday – which came from the Welisara navy camp is under control. “We have effectively carried out contact tracing and quarantining,” assured Dr. Palihawadana, adding that RT-PCR testing is being done not only among high-risk groups but also from the community randomly.
The country would have to be vigilant and have strong surveillance when the lockdown is lifted to detect any signs of the virus raising its head again and take immediate action to crush it once again with testing, diagnosis, contact tracing and quarantining, she added.
Health security mission to protect military camps
Starting with the Rangala navy camp and the Katunayake airbase on Thursday, they went to the Akuregoda Tri-Forces Headquarters and Mattakkuliya army camp the next day and will gradually expand their ‘health security’ mission by fanning out across the country.
This is what the six-member Task Force, appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to ensure the health security of all armed forces personnel, headed by Governor of the Western Province Marshal of the Sri Lanka Air Force Roshan Goonetileke has been engaged in this week.
The Task Force on inspection tour at the Rangala navy camp within the Colombo Port on Thursday. (Pix courtesy of the Sri Lanka Navy Media Unit)
The other members of the Special Presidential Task Force are former Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy Admiral (Retired) Jayantha Perera; Director-General of the Department of Civil Defence Rear Admiral (Retired) Ananda Peiris; Major General Sumedha Perera; and medical specialists Dr. Bandula Wijesiriwardena, Dr. Vajira Senaratne and Dr. I.L.K. Jayarathna.
Commending all those working at the ‘frontline’, battling the ‘invisible destroyer’ that is the highly transmissible new coronavirus, Mr. Goonetileke says along with the medical staff and grassroots level health staff, the military personnel have been at the forefront not only maintaining law and order but also heavily supporting contact tracing.
“These military personnel are playing an important role and they may sometimes get exposed,” he said.
The thinking behind this mission is that the whole country is a unit with the military being a smaller unit within this. The necessity is to stop the virus spreading from this small unit to the bigger unit which comprises the public.
“If we didn’t take control of the Welisara issue, where the navy acted with alacrity, the possibility of the virus spreading to other places was great. This is why the President decided to call back all military personnel,” he said.
Explaining that the Task Force has been instructed by the President to visit all camps, big and small, dotting the country, Mr. Goonetileke told the Sunday Times that as there are a large number, they had begun their mission from Colombo and would cover the Western Province first because the issues were more here. They briefed the Directors of Health Services of the three services on what needs to be adjusted in facing the danger of the new coronavirus.
The camp inspections are to ensure that the verbal instructions have been complied with. “Ensuring compliance will be done by us as we will be going as inspectors to check,” he said.
When asked about the spread of COVID-19 among navy personnel, he said that all of them have been traced and their families are being accommodated in comfortable surroundings. “There’s a little bit of humour there as well because one family which had been taken to an apartment/hotel had been urging their navy relative who was infected to come join them.”
The Task Force has not visited the Welisara camp as COVID-19 patients are being accommodated there.
A visit to the Akuregoda Tri-Forces Headquarters, meanwhile, has been necessitated because of the large number of construction workers still within its boundaries.
They are also setting down some “simple” instructions which would be passed down to the forces by Defence Secretary Major General (Retd.) Kamal Gunaratne.
These instructions include:
· Operational teams going out of the camp should be kept as separate units – housed apart from others, having their meals in the mess at different times and moving out and in from the camp separately. Operational units to be adequately protected with face-masks, etc. All members of operational teams would have to be tested for COVID-19 before they go on leave in the future and also when they report back for duty. Then even if there is an outbreak of the disease, that can be contained within that particular group.
· The cancellation of entertainment programmes conducted by the armed service personnel for the public, to ensure minimal exposure to the infection. The airman who tested positive had been part of such programme. However, all others in the group have tested negative.
· Disinfection before leaving and on returning to the camps along with temperature checks.
· The need for social distancing. The recommendation for sleeping quarters is that the space between two beds needs to be increased along with one bunk-bed being occupied by one person. The system would be that if one person is occupying the lower bunk of one bed, the next person would occupy the upper bunk of the next bed.
· Meal times could be staggered to ensure social distancing and prevent crowding.
· Regular disinfection processes for the camps including the areas where the personnel have their meals and their washrooms
· More facilities for hand-hygiene.
· All discussions and meetings should be virtual but if a physical meet-up is necessary, to do so following the required social distancing criteria, wearing of face-masks et al.
Schools close to camps have been billeted as an extension of the camps for more accommodation and to maintain social distancing, said Mr. Gonnetileke refuting the “misconception” that they would be used as quarantine centres. This is while the schools are closed and these schools would benefit with additional minor constructions such as more washroom areas.
During their visits to camps they had made a few minor observations and the camp authorities had corrected them promptly.
| He just went home to his pregnant wife and little son The lisping chatter over his mobile during off-duty hours always ended with: Mata akuru liyanna board ekak genalla denna (Bring me a board to write the alphabet). It was his 4½-year-old putha (son) in Pulasthigama (off the Polonnaruwa-Somawathiya Road, 20 kms from Polonnaruwa), whom he had not seen for 40 days as he was on duty at the Welisara navy camp, Ragama, in these difficult times of COVID-19. When he did get leave on April 18, A.G.M. Mahes Kumara headed for home, as looking forward to his return was not only his little son but also his wife who is expecting their second baby in July. That day, transport was difficult, says Kumara when the Sunday Times contacts him at the Welikanda Base Hospital where he has been since he was diagnosed with COVID-19. When asked how he got the virus, he says he is puzzled as he was on duty within the camp. He journeyed towards Kandy, got off midway and then hitched lifts from vehicles, finally walking three kilometres to reach home and his loved ones. All the while he wore his face-mask. As there was curfew on April 19, he toiled in the kumbura (fields), while his boy watched from the niyara from morning till dusk, reluctant to let him out of his sight. On the 20th, as there was hardly anything to eat in the house, he took his little boy to the pola andto get him a haircut and also to look for the white board which had been on his mind, but to no avail. The shops were closed. When asked how his family had been during the curfew, he says they were alright, buying a few vegetables from the lorries passing by and managing with the haal and pol (rice and coconuts) they got from their fields. On the evening of the 20th, Kumara felt feverish and even though he thought it was due to his labours in the field under the scorching sun, he called 1390. He was advised to take paracetamol and if the fever did not settle the next morning, go to hospital. Early morning, Kumara wearing a face-mask went to the Pulasthigama Hospital and from a distance, through the window, told the health staff who were in protective gear, about his illness. Later that day he was sent to the Polonnaruwa Hospital by ambulance and when he tested positive he was transferred to Welikanda on the 21st. Kumara had immediately given all the details about his movements and the army along with the MOH staff had taken his family and relatives to the quarantine centres at Meeyankulam and Panichchankerni. When asked about COVID-19, he says he only had fever but no body aches and pains. He developed a phlegmy cough on the 22nd, otherwise wena mokuth ne (there was nothing else). Kumara’s voice is tinged with sadness as he dwells on the vituperative outbursts of some people against armed forces personnel who are committed to doing their duty by the country, but is very grateful and appreciative of the immense support showered by the navy on his family. “The navy is also like my own family and they are looking out for me. They have taken a lot of stuff for my wife and son,” he adds. | |
| Major role of navy in contact tracing at Suduwella High was the praise from Ja-ela’s Suduwella Public Health Inspector (PHI) K.A. Anura Abeyratne about the major effort of the navy in tracking those infected by COVID-19 in his area. This was while on social media some people set about maligning navy personnel with much viciousness and also became physical, allegedly assaulting the father and brother of one them in Wariyapola. Giving a glimpse of what happened at ground level, Mr. Abeyratne said that disguised personnel from the navy’s Buddhi Anshaya (intelligence unit) went into every corner of Suduwella to track and trace all those who had come into contact with the infected substance abusers, while it was also the navy which manned all checkpoints when Suduwella was locked down on April 6. There were around 70 navy personnel at these checkpoints working six-hour shifts in the blazing sun until April 26, when the army took over. The navy also transported all those suspected of harbouring the virus to the quarantine centres, said Mr. Abeyratne, adding that they provided an immense service. ‘Commemorate Vesak at home’ A plea has gone out from the health authorities to commemorate Vesak in a different manner due to the dangers posed by COVID-19. Stay home and perform poojas there, while listening to pirith and sermons which the temples in each area would broadcast over sound systems, says Health Ministry Secretary Bhadrani Jayawardena in a media release, adding that public gatherings including Vesak zones, dansal and thorang (pandals) should not be held Vesak decorations and lanterns can be arranged in one’s home but if traders wish to have them on sale, social distancing, wearing face-masks etc., should be followed. Checks will be carried out by the Public Health Inspectors. |