In the wake of rising COVID 19 cases (5,676 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours with daily positivity rate of 2.88%), India has conducted a massive two-day nationwide COVID-19 mock drill on 10th and 11th April A023 at 35 States/UTs across 724 districts to evaluate level of preparedness.
Amidst a gradual spike in COVID-19 cases in several states, the Union Health Ministry had written to States and UTs on 28th March 2023 to conduct mock drills on 10th and 11th April 2023 across all health facilities, including COVID dedicated healthcare facilities to evaluate their level of preparedness, in terms of equipment, procedure and manpower.
On 7th April 2023, Union Minister had chaired a meeting with State Health Ministers and urged them to conduct mock drills of all health facilities and requested them to review preparedness with District Administration and Public Health Officials.
The mock drills were subsequently undertaken on the scheduled dates in a total of 33,685 health facilities, including 28,050 govt. facilities and 5,635 private health facilities. The Govt facilities included Govt. Medical Colleges, Govt Hospitals, District/Civil Hospitals, CHCs as well as HWCs and PHCs while Private health facilities included Private Medical Colleges, Private Hospitals and other private health centres.
Critical medical infrastructure and resources including oxygen beds, isolation beds, ventilators, PSA plants, LMO, Oxygen concentrators, Oxygen cylinders as well as medicines and PPE kits were assessed and medical staff were oriented on management of COVID-19 during the drills.
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