Need for Ward Committee and COVID-19 Management at local level: AAP

Form Covid  Paediatric Wards before impending third wave

Mysore/Mysuru: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Mysuru District Convener Malavika Gubbivani has regretted that though Mysureans have been demanding formation of Ward Committees and Area Sabhas for a very long time as per Indian Constitution (74th Amendment) and Karnataka Municipal Act (2011 Amendment), the authorities have been ignoring the demand. 

In a press release, she said, “Now that such committees do not exist, the authorities are trying to put together a hotchpotch committee under the Disaster Management Act to get the work done. Without any prior preparation or proper training in management, the committee is trying to manage unevenly distributed scanty resources at a local level. These committees are temporary and will be disbanded as soon as they are no longer required, as it happened in Bengaluru last year with the hastily set up Disaster Committees.”

She further stated that Ward Committees and Area Sabhas could be properly setup under the KMC Act with volunteers drawn from service-minded local residents, Resident Associations, etc., train them in required work and added that such a committee will help local authorities in better managing the impending 3rd or 4th wave. 

In the meantime, while keeping the management of hospital beds, particularly ICU/HDUs, supply of life saving drugs and oxygen, the authorities could pay attention to form Covid-19 Paediatric Wards as the impending waves are predicted to affect children more than adults and leave the Ward Committees to handle contact tracing, follow up on Home Isolation patients, delivery of essential items to affected families, gathering and verifying information on locally available medical resources, send people for vaccination at booth level, control crowding in market places and so on.