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Dimapur, April 1 (EMN): Based on the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and World Health Organisation (WHO), a self-assessment tool has been introduced in the state by the Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA) and government of Nagaland in collaboration with Institution for Disasters, Emergency and Accidents (Idea).
The online tool will help the public decide whether they should be tested for Covid-19 by answering a few questions related to age, symptoms, travel or contact history and pre-existing health conditions.
Speaking to Eastern Mirror, the officer on special duty (OSD), NSDMA, Johnny Ruangmei, said that the self-assessment tool is mainly to reduce the workload of health workers in screening the public.
“Anyone who has been exposed to high risk hotspots of the novel coronavirus can do the assessment if they think they have any symptoms,” Ruangmei said.
Maintaining that it is important to reduce the burden of the health workers, everyone and anyone can do the interactive assessment from the comfort of their homes; which will enable them to get a preliminary self-evaluation.
A statement from Idea informed that the self-evaluation tool would not only help in reducing the burden of health workers but also clear doubt among the community, whether they should go for a test while also reducing the chances of transmitting infection among communities.
Further, it stated that the tool also provides assurance and proper information on what actions to be taken in various scenarios.
The toolkit, which is available online (https://innovoidea.in/covidselftest/india/), works across all browsing platforms and devices.
“It is not a medical advice but a guidance tool to orient the people as per the current national guidelines and refers to very common questions related to symptoms, travel history and contact history,” it stated.