‘55% of the 45-plus population inoculated in Chennai city’ – BusinessLine

Nearly 55 per cent of the above-45 population in Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) have been vaccinated for Covid-19. This is the highest coverage among any metropolitan city in this age group. Vaccination is the only way to prevent the spread of Covid-19, GCC Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi said in a letter to all the doctors of GCC, appreciating their efforts in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.

So far, nearly 19 lakh individuals have been vaccinated in Chennai.

Expressing gratitude and appreciation for the selfless work that doctors are doing, Bedi said that they play a critical role in three primary Covid-19 response strategies of GCC — doorstep triaging; fever camps and vaccination camps.

Through door-step triaging, the endeavour is to reach the patient at the earliest and not only provide medical advice but also the mental strength to face this disease. “We can imagine the difficulties of going door-to-door and triaging patients. You are putting public good ahead of your personal difficulties and this is a great effort by you and the para-medical staff,” Bedi said..

Coordination of Fever Survey Workers (FSWs) and the conduct of fever camps are the hallmarks of GCC. This significance of early identification, testing and treatment of symptomatic cases in saving lives cannot be stressed enough. “You have been coordinating the work of FSWs as well as conducting the fever camps very effectively and people of the city of Chennai are indebted to you. Your follow-up of sick patients through tele-consulting by our contractual doctors and judicious utilisation of car-ambulances is also very useful,” the letter said.

“We are seeing a dip in the daily cases reported, as on date. We believe that if our efforts continue the same way for a couple more weeks, we will be able to manage the second wave of the pandemic effectively. We thank you for your dedicated service to the society, which is truly appreciated by everybody,” he said in the letter.