The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Monday said that it had visited 2,48,280 houses and tested 711,648 people in the last 21 days, of which 22,362 were infected by Covid-19 previously.
“Of the 711,648 people we tested, 57,528 have some form of severe illness,” R Ashok, Karnataka’s revenue minister said on Monday.
The minister said that of those who were diagnosed to have some illness, 50.86% of the people have comorbidities like diabetes mellitus, 35.82% have hypertension, 2.99% have hypothyroidism and 2.48% have Ischaemic heart disease. The BBMP said that these were the top four conditions that make up the bulk of all illnesses in Bengaluru.
The door-to-door survey that started on August 16 with a target to reach each and every household in India’s IT capital was taken up as a way to collect health-related information of all the residents of the city and also as an attempt to prepare the medical infrastructure before the third wave of Covid-19 infections hits the state, which experts estimate can occur in October.
The initiative, “Palike Vaidyaru Nimma Mane Bagilige”(Palike doctors at your
doorstep), has one doctor and one para medical staff to collect information on Covid symptoms and comorbidities as well as provide advice on health care.
Ashok said that the BBMP wanted to complete all homes in the span of three months and have another 60 days left to complete the ambitious exercise.
“Before the third wave comes, we would have reached all homes,” Ashok said, adding, that the exercise to send doctors and medical personnel to the homes of Bengalureans would inspire confidence in the population.
He said that this would also serve as a “guiding light” to deal with any health crisis as the city corporation will have all the medical history details of the residents.
Ashok said that chief minister Basavaraj Bommai too has stated to constitute a task force to deal with the imminent third wave of infections.
The BBMP also said that the survey would help identify residents who have taken vaccines and arrange it for those who are yet to receive even the first shot.
Karnataka was among the worst impacted regions in the country between April and June, forcing the then BS Yediyurappa-led state government to announce a lockdown, despite assurances on the contrary, to rectify its unpreparedness.
The Yediyurappa government was accused of not preparing for the second wave of infections, said to have started around March, despite warnings from the technical advisory committee in November last year.
