Mumbai: The residents of Sangli district a hub of co-operatives are now breathing a sigh of relief.
Just two weeks back the district witnessed a sudden spurt in Corona cases. However, due to concerted efforts of Guardian Minister Jayant Patil and Medical Education Minister Amit Deshmukh Sangli has achieved the distinction of Corona free district. This is especially when the state has recorded the maximum number of Corona cases in the country.
Just last month around 26 people were found Corona positive in Sangli. Out of these 26 patients, 24 are now Corona negative. The remaining two are still recovering and may be Corona free soon.
Four members of a family in Sangli tested positive for virus on March 23 after returning from Saudi Arabia. Within a week, another 21 relatives or close contacts, including a two-year- old boy, were found to have contracted the infection. All these patients were either members of the family living in Islampur town or those who came in close contact with them.
Following this outbreak in his own assembly constituency, Water Resources Minister and Guardian minister Jayant Patil focussed on emergency efforts and along with making district Corona free. Medical Education Minister Amit Deshmukh took serious note of this and set up a three member team of senior doctors to Government Medical College at Miraj in Sangli. This team includes Dr. Pallavi Saple, Dean of J J Group of Hospitals in Mumbai and her colleagues Dr. Vinayak Sawardekar and Dr. Prashant Howal.
This committee took control of situation on March 28. They suggested the state government to designate the Miraj Medical College as the Corona Hospital. The facilities like CT Scan, M.R.I., Liquid Oxygen, Dialysis along with 15 bed ICUs were created in the hospital. A corona testing centre too was started immediately.
“The 24 patients are now free from Corona. The Sangli district is on the way to become free from Corona. These 24 patients were kept under institutionalised isolation for next 14 days and after completion of isolation, they will be allowed to go at home,” said Dr. Saple.
Medical Education Minister Amit Deshmukh and Water Resources Minister Jayant Patil, who is also the local MLA and Sangli guardian minister, announced this good news on twitter and praised the doctors and nurses for their efforts.
"These patients were under observation at the Miraj Medical College. The results of their second test have come out negative, which marks a big success," said Deshmukh.
Patil said a three-pronged approach of isolation, cluster identification and social distancing prevented the spread of the virus in the area, and called it the "Islampur pattern". However, he reminded people of the district that lockdown is still in force and it must be adhered to strictly.
