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Bhubaneswar: The health department in Odisha issued an advisory on Sunday to both the private and government Covid-19 treatment facilities to establish dedicated help desks with immediate effect.
Further, directions have been issued to the private hospitals to reserve 50 per cent of the total general bed and 80 per cent of ICU in five Municipal Corporation areas and 10 per cent of the total bed in case of other districts.
In spite of the instructions for all Covid-19 treatment facilities (both in government and private) to put up a help desk to provide information to the near and dear ones of patients in such facilities, complaints are being received from the relatives of the patients as they are not getting any feedback on the status of the patients, reports stated.
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After careful examination of the matter, the government has stipulated the following revised guidelines to be followed for establishing the dedicated help desk in each Covid-19 facility with immediate effect.
1. Each (Dedicated Covid care centers or hospitals) shall mandatorily establish a dedicated help desk to function 24 x 7
2. The help desk must have a dedicated telephone preferably a toll free number.
3. The toll-free help line number of the help desk must be intimated to the State level authorized officer i.e. Additional DMET Odisha.
4. The toll-free numbers of all Covid-19 facilities shall be widely notified to the public.
5. The help desk shall be manned with sufficient HR so as to attend all calls round the clock in shift manner In this context it may be considered for engaging volunteer groups, NGOs and CSOs in help desks who can support in managing the patients being admitted in the hospital effectively and facilitate better interaction between hospital staff and patients' attendants.
6. The help desk team shall also help in increasing awareness about the necessary safety precautions and follow of Covid appropriate behavior, amongst patients.
7. The NGOs can be asked to support in other activities at hospitals that facilitate the attendants grievance redressal and also help in their logistic requirements, such as helping with discharge, liaising with cremation and burial grounds etc.
8. The help desk apart from telephonic communication shall also use the social media like WhatsApp etc to communicate the voice and pictures of the patient to the attendants of the patient.
9. A dedicated conference room may be set up at the outside of the Coved-19 facility with provision of TV and cameras which can be connected with CCTVs installed in the inside of facilities so that the attendant can see his patient and talk with him / her.
10. Steps shall be taken to collect and record the contact numbers of the patient at the time of admission and even if not enquired by the attendant of the patient a general information of the condition of the patient shall be communicated as a SMS or WhatsApp message to the attendant of the patient every day at least once
11. The authorised medical officer and the authorized person shall ensure the establishment of help desk with in a weeks' time and intimate the helpline number to the State level authorized officer.
12. The AMO as well as AP shall also ensure the proper functioning of the help desk. In case of any complain regarding the nonresponse of the help desk to the query / help needed over the telephone the AMO / AP shall lake necessary steps to respond the call immediately.
13. For any violation of the above provisions and functioning of the help desk necessary action as deemed fit shall be initiated against the erring hospital. Further as the compliance of me help desk is directly related to the overall satisfaction of the patient as well as the attendants, noncompliance of the same shall be seriously viewed and shall be considered as negligence in duty for the patient and the payment of the hospital shall be withheld. Such matter shall be decided by the technical committee after receiving a written complaint from the appellant and approval of government.
