The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Ministry of Health (MoH) has provided certain facilities to secure the safety the people manning the border.
As a preventive measure, MoH has provided disposable facemasks and hand gloves to people manning the border. Health Minister Dechen Wangmo said that usage of facemasks and hand gloves are important and mandatory while dealing with the people along the border.
“It is not necessary for them to wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). In some of the countries, the health staff who are directly in contact with the COVID-19 positive cases do not have PPE due to limited numbers,” she added.
They are also advised to wash their hands always. Lyonpo said that using hand gloves would not be effective if the person keep touching his or her face with gloved hands, and the same goes with the disposable facemask. However, the cloth facemasks can be reused after washing thoroughly with soap and water.
“All the people manning the border are tested on frequent basis to ensure that they are not infected. We are doing same with all the taskforce members, people who are in the frontlines and all the volunteers involved,” Lyonpo said.
Meanwhile, she said that the surveillance along the border would be permanent. They have collected all the demographic information from every village across the border and officials are to be designated if in case of any emergency.
“If, in case, anything happens in one particular village, people within the village won’t be allowed to go out. All the facilities will be provided by the designated officials. Planning has already started,” she said.
Lyonpo urged the people to come forward for their scheduled immunization, pregnancy related services and treatment of Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) as there will be big problems if the schedule is not kept.
