Health ministry shuts offices for 2 days, issues guidelines as Covid cases rise among staffers

The health ministry has issued an office memorandum that strictly lists out social distancing measures and dos and don'ts. Employees are advised to look out for and report symptoms.

File Photo of Union ministers and officials attending a meeting on the novel coronavirus in March 2020 | ANI

New Delhi: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) Wednesday issued a list of preventive measures for its officials amid rising cases of Covid-19 infections within the ministry.

The office memorandum (OM) announced that the entire premises of the ministry at Nirman Bhawan, including washrooms, lifts and staircases, will remain closed for thorough sanitisation on 6 and 7 June, except for the emergency Covid-l9 team.

Nirman Bhawan is located at Central Secretariat in New Delhi.

“The undersigned is directed … to say that the number of COVID-I9 positive cases are going up steadily and many officers of the Ministry of Health & Family welfare have been tested Covid-19 positive,” stated the memorandum titled ‘Preventive measures to be taken by Ministry of Health and Family welfare, Government of India for containment of COVID-l9’.

The OM, accessed by ThePrint, is marked to everyone in the ministry, right from the office of Health Minister Dr. Harshvardhan to Health Secretary Preeti Sudan and all joint secretaries. It is marked to all junior staffers as well.

Dated 3 June, the memorandum said, “…it has been noticed that at times social distancing is not being maintained in office premises.”

The ministry has released a 40-point document listing precautionary measures which starts by reminding officials and staffers to “compulsorily” wear masks when in office premises.

The ministry has also warned staffers to also not spit on the office premises.

“Spitting is strictly prohibited. If any person is found spitting, strict action will be taken as per rules,” the four-page document said.

Also, use of paper files has been discouraged. “The movement of physical receipt or file should be discouraged so as to avoid the infection through frequent touching of papers.”

Shutting air-conditioners, staggered work hours

A list of basic hygiene measures have been elaborated on in the document, starting from the rule of maintaining social distancing to regularly hand washing.

It also instructs drivers to maintain social distancing and states that those residing in containment zones shall not be allowed to drive vehicles.

The ministry has also decided to shut the centralised air-conditioner for the “time being”.

Further, it stressed that no meeting or conference should be done physically and all “meetings may be organized through video conferences only”.

The OM directed staffers to ensure they come in at staggered times and “if possible, the officers or staff may attend office on staggered days for maintaining social distancing”.

The ministry has also asked employees to “strictly avoid” group lunches and encourage staggered lunch time.

To further enforce social distancing, it also bars entry of more than four people in the lift. While inside the lift, people should stand facing the walls of the lift and not each other, the OM stated.

Be prepared to WFH, liberal leave sanctioning for self-quarantine

The ministry had also directed the National Informatics Centre (NIC), a department under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology that creates digital infrastructure for the government, to issue a virtual private network (VPN) to all officers “so that work from home may be facilitated in case of any emergent situation”.

“NIC may install video conferencing devices on computers/laptop of all officers for meetings and to contact the officers in emergent situation,” the order stated.

It further asked officials to discourage the entry of visitors in the office complex while routine issue of visitors or temporary passes has already been suspended.

“Only those visitors who have proper permission of the officer, whom they want to meet, should be allowed after being properly screened.”

Apart from guests, couriers are also not welcome. “Facilitate delivery and receipt of dak (letters) at the entry point itself of the office building, as far as possible,” it said.

While all officials are advised to look out for symptoms such as fever, respiratory problem, the authorities are also advised to sanction leave “whenever any request is made for self-quarantine as a precautionary measure”.

It warns that “employees should strictly avoid spreading of rumours”.

“As much as possible, employees should avoid using other employees’ phones, desks, offices, or other work tools and equipment.”