All Delhi hospitals will start OPDs and surgeries on Monday, with social restriction

Only two of the dedicated hospitals — Lok Nayak and Rajeev Gandhi Super-Specialty — will be exempt and will continue to cater exclusively to Covid-19 patients, according to sources.

All Delhi government hospitals will start their routine services — outpatient clinics and non-emergency surgeries — from Monday onwards, officials of the state health department said.

Doctors wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) during a consultation at a special Flu Centre in the Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital at Rajpur Road in New Delhi, India, on Saturday, April 18, 2020. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

Only two of the dedicated hospitals — Lok Nayak and Rajeev Gandhi Super-Specialty — will be exempt and will continue to cater exclusively to Covid-19 patients, according to sources.

With 477 positive patients being treated at the hospital, Lok Nayak is the busiest Covid-19 facility. These hospitals have stopped all other facilities — including emergency services — other than the treatment of Covid-19 patients.

Delhi had till Saturday witnessed 1,893 Covid-19 positive cases with 43 deaths.

All Delhi government hospitals had curtailed their out-patient clinics to ensure social distancing and postponed routine surgeries to ensure the availability of beds and manpower to treat Covid-19 patients in March end. Together the 37 Delhi government hospitals, including AYUSH hospitals, treat over 60,000 patients daily at its clinics. The hospitals together perform over 2,000 surgeries in a day.

“It is important to take care of those with Covid-19. But, it should not come at the cost of other patients. We cannot keep them waiting forever for the care that they need. So, the services at hospitals, other than the Covid-19 ones, will resume. It will be business as usual for them,” said an official from Delhi government’s health department.

The health ministry on March 20 had advised all hospitals – both government and private – to postpone their non-emergency planned surgeries and to maintain social distancing norms in their out-patient clinics. The guidelines had also said that patients with flu-like symptoms should be treated in a separate section.

A set of guidelines released by the Union home ministry on April 15 states that all hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics, even those providing AYUSH services, will keep running during the extended lockdown period.

Although, emergency services were allowed, the inability to reach hospitals and clinics and hospitals remaining shut had made it difficult for patients to access proper care during the first phase of the nationwide lockdown.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences – which is also treating Covid-19 patients – however, will be unable to reopen its out-patient clinics for the time being, although the block is completely removed from Covid-19 areas, officials said.

Covid-19 suspected patients are admitted to the new private ward block in AIIMS. Confirmed Covid-19 cases with mild symptoms are moved to AIIMS Jhajjar campus, and those with severe symptoms are moved to AIIMS trauma centre, across the road from the main campus.

“What would be the use of opening up OPDs if we are not able to provide any other services. And, we cannot start surgeries at the moment because we have moved patients from the AIIMS trauma centre, which has been converted into a dedicated Covid-19 treatment facility. We do not really have space to do much else,” said Dr DK Sharma, medical superintendent of the hospital.

However, the hospital has decided to start tele-consultation services for all its follow-up patients. Patient in need of follow-up appointments can get it on the website http://ors.gov.in/followup/. Once a patient registers him/herself, the doctors will call them and provide requisite medical advice on the given date, according to the hospital.

Private clinics and hospitals in the city will also start scaling-up their services Monday onwards.

“There was an advisory to stop routine procedures, but now private hospitals will slowly start opening up these services from Monday onwards. We have advised all our hospitals to ensure social distancing in the clinics and conduct only 2-3 surgeries a day,” said Dr PK Bhardwaj, secretary, Delhi Voluntary Hospitals’ Forum.

The Delhi Medical Association is also in the process of drafting guidelines for hospitals and clinics to restart their services while ensuring safety. “We have to ensure that the doctors and healthcare workers are safe after they open up the services. Also the government needs to support the centres that had to be closed down after accidental exposure,” said Dr Girish Tyagi, president elect, Delhi Medical Association.

Cancer institute to repoen

The Delhi State Cancer Institute, which had closed its services, after 25 of its healthcare workers had tested positive for Covid-19, will also start its out-patient clinic in a phased manner Monday onwards.

The entire hospital has been sanitised thrice and samples have been collected from various places in the hospital to test for presence of the virus.

“Initially we will allow only 10 or 20 people inside the OPD at a time, after being screened at a flu corner outside. Later on we will start are chemotherapy services,” said Dr BL Sherwal, director, Delhi State Cancer Institute.