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At govt hospitals, guidelines for separate treatment for those with and without Covid-19
The guidelines say that staff must be divided into core departments like medicine, pulmonology and geriatric units that will lead the teams treating those with mild to moderate symptoms of Covid-19 and be involved in the care of critically ill patients.
To prepare for an expected surge in the number of Covid-19 cases, the Centre has issued guidelines to staff of government hospitals to ensure separate treatment of people with and without the infection. According to the plan, hospitals need to be divided into three zones – non-Covid-19 areas, Covid-19 areas treating people with mild to moderate infection and critical areas like the intensive care units (ICU).
A triage facility has to be set up at the entrance of the emergency department to segregate those with acute respiratory problems, according to a copy of the guidelines seen by Hindustan Times. Delhi’s Lok Nayak hospital has already started screening patients coming in for emergency and routine treatment.
“Our general out-patient clinics are still running and to ensure that there is no spread of the infection, a team of doctors segregates the patients who are suspected to have the disease and those who are not. The suspect patients are directly taken to the Covid-19 treatment area, the others are allowed to go to the clinics,” a senior official at the hospital said on condition of anonymity.
The guidelines say that staff must be divided into core departments like medicine, pulmonology and geriatric units that will lead the teams treating those with mild to moderate symptoms of Covid-19 and be involved in the care of critically ill patients.
Those from departments like cardiology, neurology, paediatric and the respective surgical divisions who know how to run an ICU will lead the screening teams and be posted at in the critical area with those from the core departments.
Doctors from other clinical specialities like rheumatology, endocrinology and gynaecology will be included in the screening teams and in the teams taking care of the mild to moderately sick, according to the document listing the guidelines.
Dentists may later be included for the treatment as well if the number of cases starts rising. They have to be trained in infection control measures from now to ensure they are prepared if the need for their deployment arises, according to the guidelines.
As for nursing staff, the guidelines suggest that in case of a surge in the number of patients, nursing students be enlisted.
Hospitals across the country have started preparing for a surge in the number of cases, with many states designating dedicated hospitals for treating just Covid-19 patients. Delhi is opening up one of its newly constructed hospitals with 1,000 beds for the management of Covid-19 patients alone. Along with that, two existing hospitals are working towards becoming Covid-19 only in Delhi.
