‘Televerification and Communication Team’ set up for well-being of Mysuru City Corporation employees

Mysore/Mysuru: If West Bengal Government has formed a unique “Coronavirus Disease Warrior Club” comprising patients who have recovered from the viral infection and who are deployed in Hospitals treating COVID-19 patients, the Mysuru District Administration has also set up a dedicated Call Centre for COVID warriors in Mysuru City Corporation (MCC).

Day in and day out, the MCC employees — be it 2,700-strong Pourakarmikas or over 600 staff working in various sections — are in the frontline of COVID-19 fight and they stand exposed to the virus. Despite taking precautions, these frontline champions are exposed to such conditions at work that their health needs to be monitored constantly as they come in contact with people on a daily basis. 

Realising this need, the District Administration has set up ‘Televerification and Communication Team’ that is tasked with monitoring the health of MCC personnel — both on ground and at offices. The telecalling facility has been set up at Town Hall and has been formed on the lines of COVID Contact Tracing Team, Telemedicine Monitoring Team and COVID-positive Persons Shifting Team. 

Well-being enquired 

There are four volunteers functioning in the team under the guidance of MCC Commissioner Gurudatta Hegde and MCC Health Officer Dr. D.G. Nagaraju. Every day, each team member makes 80 to 100 calls. They call each MCC staff member including Pourakarmikas (contract and regular) and enquire about their health. 

Questions on their day-to-day health are asked along with enquiries about symptoms of fever, cold and breathlessness. Other questions also include about general diseases they are facing like hypertension, TB, diabetes and heart ailments. 

If they are having COVID symptoms or any other serious illness, an exclusive phone number is given to them so that their swabs are collected and tested free of cost. Details of symptomatic patients are passed on to the District Health Officer (DHO)  for follow-up action. 

Two of the volunteers have medical background while one is a NSS volunteer. All of them are good at communication and persuasion skills. Esha, a first year MBBS student from Shimoga Institute of Medical Sciences is one of the volunteers. She had come to Mysuru to her Vidyaranyapuram residence in March and then the lockdown was imposed. With no college, she enrolled as a volunteer.  

An internship-like work

She was given preference as she was pursuing her MBBS and has knowledge about the diseases including COVID-19. After much convincing her parents, Esha became a volunteer. “This work as a volunteer is like my internship and it will be a practice for handling emergency services. It will give me exposure to patient-handling during a pandemic and also improves  my coordination skills,” she told Star of Mysore. 

When Esha joined the ‘Televerification and Communication Team’, information was exchanged with the students of Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (MMC&RI). “Since I had some basic knowledge in the field, it was helpful. Additional reading also helped,” she added. 

Spandana, also a first year MBBS student from Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences, is another volunteer. Her house is in Krishnamurthypuram and she is happy that she has been chosen a volunteer for the team. “We interact with MCC staff, making sure they don’t lose touch with life in the time of social distancing and quarantined existence. Their well-being is important,” she says. 

Other volunteers are T.V. Roopa, a Second BBA student from Maharani’s College and Niranjan from JSS College, Ooty Road. Both have experience in social service and Niranjan is an NSS volunteer. The District Administration has provided them with SIM card and protective equipment including masks and gloves. They sit at their desk and make calls without going to the field.

Meanwhile three more voluteers — Kiran, Rakshith and Sachin Raj — joined the COVID Enquiry Call Centre today.