Mahatma Gandhi rightly said – ‘Work is worship’. No matter in what circumstances you find yourself in, if you are still ready to give a hundred percent in your work, you will surely reap its benefits sooner or later.
Not many adhere to this golden advice, though. A shining exception among the crowd of shirkers is the District Magistrate of Sonipat Mr. Shyam Lal Poonia. Even though infected with Covid19 along with his family, and despite admitting to a hospital, he did not stop working for his district and managed everything from his hospital bed!
In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, Mr. Poonia explained how he managed everything and handled the Covid19 crisis in Sonipat.
COVID ATTACK ON FAMILY
In mid-April of 2021, Mr. Poonia got hit by Covid19 along with his wife and daughter and had to spend two weeks in a hospital. His 10-year-old son was the only member of the family who escaped the disease.
Although all three of them were admitted, his condition was more stable than the other two members. His wife had developed health complications, following congestion in her chest, while the couple’s eight-year-old daughter remained on ventilator support for five days. It was a particularly tough phase for the officer.
HANDLING THE DISTRICT FROM HOSPITAL
While still in hospital, Mr. Poonia realized that his district shouldn’t suffer because of his health. Therefore he constantly kept in touch with the officer appointed as his substitute to manage everything that required his assistance.
“I have been in the service for 10 years and have looked after Sonipat and its people from the beginning of the pandemic. I had mentally made up my mind to not leave them behind during the crisis and therefore I tried to do as much as I could, from the hospital,” the IAS officer told Indian Masterminds.
Mr. Poonia was discharged from the hospital on 26 April and he was physically back at work from 28 April. His team continuously supported him with everything and he believes that through wonderful and cooperative teamwork, everything could go on smoothly in the district.
LIQUID OXYGEN MANAGEMENT
With the second wave of pandemic, came different sorts of challenges, of which maintaining oxygen supply was perhaps the biggest. The situation was particularly grim in Sonepat, given the non-existent supply system for the hospitals which included the 500 bedded Medical College.
Said Mr. Pooinia, “The positivity rate was at 54% and highest cases in a day were up to 1239. The challenge of medical oxygen was altogether new for us like many other districts in the country. Patients coming from Delhi led to quick saturation of bed capacity in Covid hospitals. With this, we were facing the dual challenge of increasing oxygen beds on one hand and managing oxygen demand within the available quota on the other,” stated Mr. Poonia.
Dealing efficiently with the situation, Mr. Poonia, with help of Professor Jogendra from a college in Sonipat installed a 200 LPM (liters per minute) capacity PSA (Pressure Swing Adsorption) plant approved under PM Cares Fund in Civil hospital.
“Sonipat was the first district to start the PSA plant under PM care in Haryana. This helped us to increase the number of oxygen beds at civil hospital,” he told Indian Masterminds.
‘CHASE THE PATIENT’
At one point in time, Sonipat district had about 7000 Covid19 patients in home isolation, which birthed the challenge of constant monitoring and keeping a check on them.
“It was difficult for the monitoring teams to visit each and every house daily and keep a check on them. To deal with it, we tied up with our medical college’s final year PG and intern students who could help with tele-consultancy of the patients,” Mr. Poonia told Indian Masterminds.
Thus, 120 PG students of the Medical College were engaged to monitor all the home-isolated patients of the district. They were divided into 15 area-wise teams and each team connected with their respective Community Health Centre and Urban Health Centres.
The medical students called and consulted the patients and maintained records of their symptoms and degree of Covid 19 severity. They were provided with mobile phones and internet connectivity along with desktops to work and record data in. On average, 2000 calls were made daily for regular follow-up with the patients, and to ensure distribution of home isolation kits for them.
E-SAMVAAD
It was observed that admission in COVID facilities was leading to the disconnection of patients with their family members. This was especially true for those not possessing smartphones. Therefore, the District Administration initiated E-Samvaad wherein six tablets have been provided to Civil Hospital and Medical Colleges to facilitate the interaction of admitted patients with their family members.
“During a fixed time slot, the family members can now interact with their patient on a video call. The Nursing Staff dedicates themselves for this purpose in the given time slot,” said Mr. Poonia.
This initiative has been observed to have led to a marked difference in the mental well-being of both patients and their family members as they now feel closer to one another and can regularly stay in touch with each other.
Mr. Poonia has now been transferred as the DM of Jhajjar, Haryana, and has already started working for the benefit of his new district.
