Ghaziabad CMO asks private hospitals to restart emergency services, Covid cases jump to 169

The chief medical officer (CMO) of Ghaziabad has written to 110 private hospitals and also to the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Ghaziabad, urging them to immediate

The chief medical officer (CMO) of Ghaziabad has written to 110 private hospitals and also to the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Ghaziabad, urging them to immediate restart emergency services. This came after he and other officials attended a video conference with Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday.

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Officials of the health department said restarting emergency services would take the load off the government hospitals that are presently taking up non-Covid emergency services at MMG Hospital and the Women’s Hospital in Ghaziabad.

“We have asked all 110 private hospitals to restart emergency services with immediate effect as their nodal officers have been provided training under the Infection Prevention and Control Protocol (IPC). This will take the load off government hospitals and also help non-Covid patients. The nodal officers of private hospitals have been asked to further train their staff and resume emergency services,” CMO Dr NK Gupta said.

He said while operating emergency services, the doctors and staff attending to patients are required to use N95 masks and full PPE kits.

“If they do not resume emergency services, action can be initiated against hospitals. Private hospitals that are empanelled under the Ayushman Bharat Yojna, the Union government’s free health care scheme, will also get a rebate of 50% on purchase of masks and PPE kits. The rest will be borne by the district industries department through which the purchase will be made,” Gupta said.

The office-bearers of IMA, Ghaziabad, said most of the 110 hospitals have resumed services after they were given the IPC training.

“The rest of the hospitals will start their services by the end of the week. On our part, we are also taking up training of staff and more sessions will be conducted soon. We will try to have every precaution in place when patients are brought to the emergency and tests of those undergoing surgeries will also be taken up as per protocol,” Dr VB Jindal, president, IMA, Ghaziabad, said.

“We have also requested the chief minister to allow us restart OPD services. For this, the government can come up with a protocol,” Dr Jindal said.

Amit Mohan Prasad, principal secretary (health), Uttar Pradesh, Thursday said Adityanath has decided to extend the registration of all nursing homes by a period of six months.

“The decision has been taken after a video conferencing the CM had with IMA and UP Nursing Home Association. Their representatives had also assured Adityanath that they will immediately restart emergency services,” Prasad said.

.Meanwhile, the number of cases in Ghaziabad on Thursday — as per state control room for integrated disease surveillance program, directorate of health services, UP —stood at 169, with the district recording 24 cases since Wednesday — highest single day spike for the district so far.

The office of district magistrate, Ajay Shankar Pandey, had not released daily figures of cases till late Thursday night.