All COVID-related activities across the State, including testing, data management and reporting, have been seriously hit, now that the State Government has fully disbanded the COVID-19 Brigade as of October 30.

When the pandemic was at its worst, the Government had put together additional human resources of nearly 20,000 persons across all categories – ambulance drivers, nurses, paramedical staff, lab technicians, data entry operators and so on – who formed the COVID brigade. They were recruited on a temporary basis and their salaries were being paid from the COVID management funds provided by the Centre (which got exhausted in July).

Throughout the pandemic, all district health administrations as well as Government Medical Colleges, which had been fully converted to COVID hospitals, leaned heavily on these staff who were deployed in hospitals, labs, COVID war rooms and control rooms for additional tasks.

Now that they have been withdrawn, the major activity that seems to be hit is COVID testing and data management. The loss of technicians, electricians and data entry operators seems to have affected microbiology labs in Medical College Hospitals (MCH) that were functioning round the clock to get RT-PCR tests done and the results uploaded in the portal on time.

Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, which has been handling the RT-PCR samples for the entire capital district, initially declared that it would no longer be able to work round the clock.

Special arrangements

However, when contacted, the hospital authorities claimed that they had made special arrangements now, pulling lab technicians from all other departments, to ensure that the microbiology lab can work 24 hours a day.

“We lost about 750 personnel and we have requested that at least 25% of the staff be retained to help tide over the times. The hospital development society is already in huge debt and cannot chip in. We also have to bear the expenses for lab reagents and consumables as Government funds have dried up,” said A. Nizaruddin, superintendent, Thiruvananthapuram MCH.

Districts have now been asked to reduce the number of samples sent for RT-PCR testing, and many RT-PCR labs too have been asked to shut shop because, at this point of the pandemic “when COVID was well within control”, there was no need to test intensely as before, officials said. Private labs are doing a chunk of the daily tests now.

According to sources, the Government will retain only a small proportion of the COVID brigade – less than 700 persons – to be deployed in districts/areas where shortage of personnel is acute.

“COVID data management and reporting is going to suffer because we do not have adequate staff to generate the innumerable reports and data analysis that had been produced daily throughout the pandemic. All districts have informed that only basic reports with minimum parameters can be generated now,” National Health Mission sources said.

Equipment returned

In fact, even laptops and computers being used by data teams in districts, some of which were pooled from Education and other departments, have been taken back, they added.

Senior officials said that the system had about 40% of additional workload due to COVID and that at least in some areas, additional personnel would be required since activities such as testing, vaccination and patient management linked to COVID had to continue as the pandemic has not ended.