Jagan seeks reduction in gap for precautionary doses from 9 to 6 months

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday said he will write to the Centre to reduce the gap for precautionary doses from nine to six months.

During a review meeting here, Jagan said 140 additional COVID-19 care centres (CCC) will be set up in the state so that each constituency has one CCC which will have a combined bed capacity of 27,909. The state presently has 59 functional CCCs with 14,725 beds.

Jagan directed the officials to focus on scaling up vaccination in the five districts that have the lowest second-dose vaccination –East Godavari, Guntur, YSR Kadapa, Vizianagaram, and Srikakulam. He said vaccination for children aged between 15-18 years has been completed 100% in Nellore and West Godavari while it is 90% in five districts and 80% in four districts. He directed the officials to expedite the vaccination process in Vizianagaram and Vishakapatnam districts. Jagan also reviewed the progress of construction works of new medical colleges.

Strengthen referral system under Arogyasri scheme

The Chief Minister directed the officials to set up big hoardings in village/ward clinics and government hospitals displaying details of the Arogyasri scheme. He said village clinics should be referral points for the scheme and should provide detailed information on available treatment locations.Jagan reviewed the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for patient referral system under Aarogyasri and also SOPs related to Arogyamitras in network hospitals, village/ward secretariats, PHCs, and medical officers for 104 and 108 services.

He said medical services under the Arogyasri scheme should be delivered efficiently and added that the mechanism of sending patients to concerned hospitals for treatment under the scheme should be strengthened. He said the referral system should be such that 108, 104, PHCs, and doctors of other health centers should be a part of it. He added that Arogyamitras should play a crucial role in this regard.

"An app should be developed to coordinate all these services. The app would refer patients to the nearest network hospital," said the CM. He asked officials to focus on using Artificial Intelligence (AI) so that the system will become more efficient and added that it would make the referral system more transparent.

The Chief Minister said 104 call centers should work efficiently and that necessary steps should be taken to ensure treatment through telemedicine to callers of 104 services.