In the wake of COVID-19 outbreak in India, doctors at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) here and Bhagat Phool Singh (BPS) Medical College, Khanpur Kalan, Sonepat, have started a sample collection initiative to enhance their capacity for diagnosis and detection.
Head of department of pulmonary and critical care medicine Dr Dhruva Chaudhary is supervising the initiative at PGIMS. Chaudhary said a team of doctors and physicians from his department and the departments of internal medicine department , respiratory medicine , ear, nose, and throat (ENT), microbiology, hospital administration, emergency, anaesthesia and vaccination were working together to enhance the hospital’s capacity to diagnose and detect Covid-19.
“We have set up an isolation ward with quarantine facilities. The hospital staff are adhering to government guidelines. As many as 14 people came forward to get tested, so far none of them have received a positive result. Individuals with a travel history to affected countries have been put under observation. Initially, we had only been collecting samples but last week we setup a testing facility,” he said.
However, a doctor, on condition of anonymity, said the facilities at the hospital need to be modernised: “The highly sensitive tests are being carried out in a sanitised environment inside a lab fully equipped with a testing machine and materials. Routine confirmation of suspected cases is based on detection of the unique sequences of virus RNA with nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT), such as real time reverse transcription –Polymerase Chain reaction (rRT-PCR). If a negative result is obtained from a patient with a high index of suspicion for COVID-19 virus infection, another sample is taken from his lower respiratory tract,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}However, a doctor, on condition of anonymity, said the facilities at the hospital need to be modernised: “The highly sensitive tests are being carried out in a sanitised environment inside a lab fully equipped with a testing machine and materials. Routine confirmation of suspected cases is based on detection of the unique sequences of virus RNA with nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT), such as real time reverse transcription –Polymerase Chain reaction (rRT-PCR). If a negative result is obtained from a patient with a high index of suspicion for COVID-19 virus infection, another sample is taken from his lower respiratory tract,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}On the availability of masks and sanitisers, Chaudhary said he had ordered 3.6 lakh masks, of which he had 50,000 masks. The remaining masks are yet to be delivered.
“We have been asking people to wash hands frequently, use sanitisers and wear masks. We are asking people not to gather congregate,” he said.