COVID-19 Preparedness Checklists for Urban Primary Health Care & Community settings

COVID-19 is an unprecedented pandemic which has led to millions being affected and thousands dying every day across the world.  While the tertiary care systems are being scaled up it is essential to ensure preparedness of Primary Health Centres too. In March 2020, public health physicians from leading institutions, including The George Institute for Global Health, India had formed a collaborative called COVID-19 PHC Action Group.

The COVID-19 PHC action group had earlier developed a preparedness checklist for rural Primary Health Care Centres which has been widely disseminated. The COVID-19 PHC action group based on feedback has now developed a similar preparedness checklist for Urban Primary Health Centres. Dr Tanya Seshadri, MBBS, MD. Coordinator, Tribal Health Resource Centre, Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana Kendra, Karnataka India led the work on this checklist.  Dr Soumyadeep Bhaumik from The George Institute for Global Health has contributed majorly to development of the health systems resource.

The typical reader of this document is a managing a primary care facility (PHC medical officer or manager of an NGO/community health centre) in an urban area. We have kept in mind the typical PHC setting in urban India, noting however that this will vary across states and within it. The document provides a broad checklist for planning and preparedness and will require adaptation to specific setting.