KATHMANDU, JULY 3

The Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens has developed guidelines for operation of rehabilitation centres to ensure that vulnerable persons at the centres do not contract COVID-19.

MoWCSC said the new guidelines would be effective until Nepal was declared coronavirus-free.

As per the guidelines, hundreds of service and rehabilitation centres need to adopt safety measures against the spread of the deadly virus by considering health risks posed to rescued victims of violence, pregnant women, lactating mothers and dependent children. It also provides guidance to residential employees of rehabilitation centres on the ways to prevent the spread of COV- ID-19.

The guidelines require the employees of the centres to strictly implement social distancing rule, in addition to personal hygiene of the occupants.

“Any person, who seeks shelter at service and rehabilitation centres, shall be quarantined for 14 days mandatorily, in line with the standards set by the government.

Concerned employees and psychiatrists shall provide psycho-social counselling to the occupants as per necessity,” read the guidelines. The guidelines prohibit the employees and occupants from stepping out of the service and rehabilitation centres unless it’s necessary. “Besides conducting regular health check-up of the employees and occupants, there should be adequate foodstuffs, dignitary kits, thermometres, surgical masks, soaps, sanitiser and essential drugs in place,” add the guidelines.

If any symptom of COVID-19 infection is detected, the concerned person should be taken to the nearest hospital or health post. As cases of domestic and gender-based violence are likely to escalate during the lockdown, service and rehabilitation centres have been directed to make arrangement of more rooms and beds to provide shelter for the victims.

As per the guidelines, concerned employees are also required to make the occupants aware of the symptoms of the COVID-19 and the ways to keep the deadly virus at bay. Special treatment should be provided to pregnant women, lactating mothers, persons with chronic diseases and differently-abled persons.

MoWCSC, National Human Rights Commission, ministry of social development of the concerned province and local level may carry out monitoring of the service and rehabilitation centres to ensure that they have been operating as per the guidelines.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 4, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.