Odisha: Nodal officer to handle Covid scenario in prisons
2 min read
By Express News Service
BHUBANESWAR: The Directorate of Prisons and Correctional Services has appointed the medical officer of Choudwar Circle Jail because the nodal officer for managing the Covid-19 scenario in prisons throughout the State.
The nodal officer, Dr SE Rahman will information officers of all jails within the State to forestall and comprise an infection among the many inmates. Dr Rahman may even information medical officers and superintendents of the jails about precautions to be taken to comprise the unfold of Covid-19 and the therapy of contaminated inmates.
Superintendents of jails have been directed to make sure that inmates and workers put on double masks, keep social distancing and strictly observe Covid acceptable behaviour.
As all jails within the State don’t have medical officers, the superintendents have additionally been suggested to hunt help from native sub-divisional medical officers, chief district medical officer, sub-collectors and municipal commissioners to check the inmates and supply therapy to those that check constructive at Covid care centres.
The superintendents have been directed to shift important inmates to devoted Covid hospitals with satisfactory medical help and police escort.
In a bid to decongest jails amid a surge in Covid-19 circumstances, the Directorate of Prisons had lately ordered the discharge of 449 convicts on 90- day parole. After the transfer, the variety of inmates lodged in 87 prisons of the State has come all the way down to 19,707 as on May 15 in opposition to 20,482 on May 1.
The Directorate has additionally requested the under-trial evaluate committees to think about launch of inmates above 60 years of age with comorbidities on interim bail or parole.
In a gathering by way of video-conferencing on Monday, Director General of Prisons and Director Correctional Services Santosh Kumar Upadhyay mentioned varied measures with the division’s officers to fight the Covid-19 an infection within the jails of the State. So far, 318 inmates have been contaminated by coronavirus in varied jails of the State.
