Govt to rope-in pharmacists to track down COVID-19 suspects

Hyderabad: In an effort to effectively trace suspected cases of novel coronavirus, the State government decided to rope-in the services of pharmacists operating medical shops across the State. The Municipal Administration and Urban Development department decided to convene a meeting with all medical shops including their associations and pharmacists association in respective urban areas of the State soon.

Principal Secretary for Municipal Administration and Urban Development Arvind Kumar on Saturday pointed out that due to some hesitation and perceived social stigma, people suffering from fever, cough and other symptoms similar to COVID-19 were not approaching the doctors or the government authorities for testing or treatment. Many of them are casually approaching the nearby medical shops and seeking medicines.

“We need to track down and approach these patients in a pro-active manner as well as get them tested depending upon their symptoms. To enable it, the local pharmacies should be instructed to mandatorily take phone number and contact address of people who were coming to purchase these medicines,” Arvind Kumar said.

The officials will then obtain list of such patients from medical shops to track them down and get necessary tests done. They have been advised to convene the meetings with medical shops and take necessary measures to convince people that it was for their own benefit.