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Patna AIIMS to be referral hospital for DRDO Covid care centres
Patna AIIMS will also train hospital staff at two facilities in Patna and Muzaffarpur
Patna’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will be the referral facility for the makeshift Covid-19 care hospital set up by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at the ESIC Hospital at Bihta here.
It will also train hospital staff at two facilities in Patna and Muzaffarpur, said Dr Sanjeev Kumar, nodal officer for Covid-19 at AIIMS (Patna).
The 500-bed makeshift Covid-19 hospital in Bihta was inaugurated on August 24. The Patahi airfield would be utilised for another 500-bed makeshift field hospital at Muzaffarpur that is expected to be functional by August 31, said a letter from Sunil Sharma, joint secretary, Union health ministry.
“We received a letter to this effect from the ministry of health....,” said Dr Kumar. The Bihar government will also provide staff while doctors at these facilities would be from Army hospitals, he added.
Dr Veena Singh, head of the department of burns and plastic surgery and sub-dean, faculty affairs, AIIMS (Patna), has been nominated as the nodal officer for these facilities.
A team of three Army doctors visited AIIMS (Patna) to discuss with senior faculty members the training of healthcare workers, including nursing staff, technicians, and cleaning staff.
“Dr Singh has prepared a detailed training schedule regarding donning and doffing of PPE kits, infection prevention, biomedical waste management, patient transportation, dead body packaging...,” said Dr Kumar.
“The training will start at Bihta from Thursday and will be done in small batches of 30 personnel each.”
Dr P K Singh, director AIIMS (Patna), said the setting up of Covid-19 care facilities is a welcome step. “As a premier institute, AIIMS (Patna) is ready to lead the responsibility to make them fully functional.”
The 500-bed makeshift hospitals have been funded under the PM CARES (Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations) Fund.
The DRDO has provided hospital infrastructure, which includes 125 intensive care unit beds with ventilators.
