An awareness campaign was started immediately to sensitise the population in the valley.
Long haul: Dr Choudhary at a quarantine centre in Srinagar. Photo: Abid Bhat
Choudhary has been on the frontlines of the COVID-19 battle since February 8 when local students studying in China started to arrive in the Valley. An awareness campaign was started immediately to sensitise the population. Compared to other districts, Srinagar is well-equipped with tertiary care hospitals as well as the super-speciality centre at the government medical college. The deputy commissioner came up with emergency response and management centre (ERMC) and web and mobile applications for integrated COVID-19 management. It monitors operations of quarantine and isolation centres from a control room and enables officers to take decisions based on real-time data. The ERMC helpline handles 1,000 calls a day.
Choudhary also got a mobile app, the JKCoVID Symptom Tracker, developed to monitor the movements of COVID-19 patients. Another web application, ‘Talaash’, helps people ‘self-report’ their location.
A big concern has been ensuring availability of essential items. He has introduced home-delivery of rice and LPG for beneficiaries and a helpline for the aged and migrant labourers. Some 30,000 quintals of foodgrains are to be distributed free of cost among 140,000 BPL families in the district. Around 100,000 families have got the rations so far.
