Caring-Punjab Police personnel to have Home Away From Home Quarantine Facility
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in/ Chandigarh
The Punjab Police personnel fighting on the frontline of the COVID battle will now have a `Home Away from Home’ type of facility in the districts where they are working, equipped with all essential amenities, for home quarantining, in case of possible/suspected infection.
All police personnel deployed on high exposure duties will also be provided full body protective wear, such as PPEs, N95 and triple layer masks and gloves, to ensure their full protection from any risk of infection.
All CPs and SSPs were directed to put in place effective measures for early detection of any flu or COVID type symptoms among police personnel deployed in their district to ensure early care, treatment and rest.
These key welfare decisions were taken during a Video Conference by DGP Dinkar Gupta, to review the situation in the state with all the district police chiefs and IG/DIG Ranges, as the second phase of the nationwide lockdown came into effect on Monday morning. The meeting was also attended by top brass based in the State Headquarters, and the 7 ADGPs who had been placed In-charge of Police Ranges for monitoring the district police functioning and the curfew enforcement in the light of the COVID crisis.
It was decided at the VC that instead of subjecting the families of the police personnel suspected to be infected to any risk by sending them to their homes for quarantine, District Home Quarantine Centres would be set up for these cops. Adequate number of locations/buildings would be identified in each district for the establishment of these centres.
Whenever a police official is identified as a primary or secondary contact of a COVID positive patient, he/she will be placed under quarantine in these facilities, which will also be used for quarantine of those whose testing has been done but the report is awaited. There may be cases of an officer coming-up as primary or secondary suspect of confirmed COVID case a, thus necessitating quarantine between the date of sampling and the availability of Viral Load Test results.
These centres will also be used for the very high risk contacts who are supposed to be quarantined for a period of 14 days (from the date of exposure) even if the result is negative, said the DGP.
The facilities will be well equipped to cater to the basic needs of the quarantined personnel, such as lodging, nutritious food arrangements, maintenance of cleanliness and hygiene, regular health checkups, emergency transport, emergency medical assistance, recreation etc.
Medical doctors posted with the district Police by the Health Department shall be made In-charge of such facilities, and doctors posted with Battalions will also be used and nominated for this purpose, wherever required. The centres will also have adequate paramedical staff. Assistance can be taken from private sector, if needed, said Gupta.
According to the DGP, Ms. V Neerja, IPS, ADGP Welfare has been nominated as State Level Coordinator for ensuring proper and regular monitoring of the health and safety of the police personnel working on the front lines across the State. She would also monitor the establishment and functioning of the ‘District Home Quarantine Centres’, which will be personally supervised by ADGPs In-charge of Ranges & Commissionerates, as also Range IGPs/DIGs. Every District Police Chief will depute one DSP/ACP rank officer as DSP Welfare in his district for ensuring proper coordination of the various welfare measures for safety and health of the State Police personnel.
Meanwhile, the DGP also conveyed to the police officers the Chief Minister’s directives regarding strict enforcement of curfew, while ensuring the relaxations to Industrial Units, Construction sites, Road Construction projects in the non-containment/hotspot zones, as per the policy laid down by the State government, while ensuring full compliance with social distancing norms, proper public sanitation and hygiene etc.
The CPs and SSPs were also directed to ensure that the harvesting and procurement operations are carried out in a safe and smooth manner to contain the spread of coronavirus in the State.
Earlier, the meeting paid homage to Anil Kohli, ACP North, Ludhiana, who gave up his life in the battle against coronavirus. All the senior police officers based at Punjab Police Hqrs. Chandigarh, and in the Ranges and districts also observed a two minutes silence in the memory of the two deceased corona warriors of the country – Anil Kohli and Inspector Davinder Kumar, Town Inspector Juni, Indore.
April,20,2020
