Safdarjung reopens OPDs for new patients

Safdarjung hospital reopened its out-patient clinics for new patients on Wednesday, a day after Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain raised concerns about the four

Safdarjung hospital reopened its out-patient clinics for new patients on Wednesday, a day after Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain raised concerns about the four central government hospitals in the city—All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Safdarjung hospital, RML hospital and Lady Hardinge hospital—not treating enough patients.

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“We have resumed our OPD services from Wednesday. We do not expect too much footfall as lockdown measures are still in place, but the guards have been asked to ensure that patients maintain social distancing in all areas of the hospital,” a spokesperson from Safdarjung hospital said. The hospital had been running the clinics for patients who were already registered at the hospital.

“Earlier, only those who were under the care of our doctors were being seen in the out-patient departments (OPDs) since social distancing norms had been put in place. Right now, the registration timings have been cut by one hour to ensure that social distancing is maintained in the hospital,” a doctor from the hospital said.

This comes a day after Jain had raised the issue with union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan during a meeting on strategies to control vector-borne diseases on Tuesday.

“I request that the central government dedicate one of its hospitals in Delhi for the treatment of Covid-19 patients and the others for non-Covid treatment. There have been cases of patients being refused routine treatment as all hospitals treat Covid-19 patients. Also, the 4,000-bed AllMS has dedicated the trauma centre and the cancer centre in Jhajjar for the treatment of Covid-19 patients, yet all other services at the main hospital are still halted. I urge you to restart the other facilities for non-Covid patients,” Jain said in the meeting.

Dr Harsh Vardhan had responded that all the hospitals were treating patients and if any case of patients being refused treatment came to light, the central and state governments should discuss the matter with each other.

The AIIMS said that a decision on when to restart the OPDs and routine surgeries has not been made yet, but consultation is being provided to already registered patients over the phone.

“There are around 300 Covid-19 patients admitted to the trauma centre and AIIMS Jhajjar. Apart from that, there are about 1,100 to 1,200 other patients admitted to the main campus that has about 2,400 beds. These are patients who come to our emergency department and are usually in need of admission and surgeries. Some patients were admitted before the lockdown,” a senior doctor from the hospital said.

Another doctor added, “AIIMS Jhajjar is also drawing staff from the main AIIMS campus and it is a big facility, so all services cannot be resumed immediately. Also to ensure that social distancing is followed, fewer than usual the number of patients are being admitted,” another doctor from the hospital said.