PANAJI
Dean of the Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim Dr S M Bandekar on Wednesday called upon the state government to consider making the RT-PCR Covid-19 test mandatory for people entering Goa from Maharashtra in view of the sudden steep rise in Covid cases in the neighbouring state.
“People from Maharashtra enter Goa in their private vehicles. But Goa is a tourist state and we cannot stop people from travelling. Maharashtra is demanding an RT-PCR negative certificate not older than 48 hours from those entering from Goa. We also need to follow suit,” Dr Bandekar said.
Speaking about Goa’s preparedness to handle an imminent second wave of the Covid pandemic, the GMC Dean stated, “We are prepared fully with our infrastructure to handle a second wave of the pandemic. We are better prepared as none of our equipment and other institutions are decommissioned.”
It was pointed out that with the vaccination programme progressing swiftly, a large chunk of the Health Care Workers (HCWs) and Front Line Workers (FLWs) in the state will have developed immunity within 14 days of receiving their second dose of the vaccine. “Our HCWs will be ready with full immunity in the face of a second wave,” Dr Bandekar stated.
He also sought to explain that the mutant variant strain of the coronavirus is not fatal, but highly infective. “Treatment protocol is not different. Safety protocols need to be followed strictly,” he said.
By Wednesday, a total of 11,745 HCWs were administered the first dose of ‘CoviShield’ while 1,970 of these had received their second dose as well. On the other hand, a total of 6,127 FLWs have received their first dose of the vaccine to date.
During the first round of Covid vaccination, which commenced on January 16, a total of 19,329, from private and government sectors, were registered on the Co-WIN portal as beneficiaries. The number of Front Line Workers (FLWs) registered on the portal stands at around 16,000-odd.
