Bhubaneswar: The recent resurgence in Covid-19 cases has now made the Odisha government augment all its resources and come up with special measures to contain the further spread of the virus.
In a letter, the State Health Department has asked the Superintendents of Medical Colleges, Director Capital Hospital, RGH Rourkela, CDM and PHO of all districts to strictly follow the Covid protocols meant for healthcare institutions which were issued in March and May 2020.
As per the latest notification, the Health Department has directed concerned officials to maintain social distancing to decongest the health facilities and also see that health care personnel as well as non-covid patient do not get infected.
The guidelines clearly suggests for stopping all elective surgeries and taking up emergency surgeries with universal precautions.
Here are the guidelines:
1. Strict enforcement of Covid appropriate behaviour in hospital with infection control measures.
2. Central registration is to be suspended for the time being and manual registration to be taken up with due social distancing measure in each OPD to avoid large gathering at Central Registration Counter.
3. Non-essential admission is to be avoided.
4. All elective surgeries are to be stopped and emergency surgeries need to be taken up with universal precautions.
5. In indoor one attendant is to be allowed for serious patient and no attendant to be allowed inside the ward for ambulatory patient.
6. In OPD the medical officer should avoid advising frequent re-visit of the patients if not required.
7. Media may not be allowed inside OPD & IPD.
8. Number of DDC counters should be increased and social distancing enforced.
9. Dedicated fever clinic, isolation ward & testing facilities are to be established as per previous guideline.
10. Must have facilities to deal with all types of emergency procedure including maternity and child care with Covid prevention protocol.
11. People are to be encouraged to utilse existing telemedicine services for their ailments.
12. CDM&PHOs/ The Director, Capital Hospital, Bhubaneswar/ RGH, Rourkela / The Superintendents, all Medical College & Hospitals are to enforce above protocol in all health facilities (both Govt & Pvt).
13. To ensure that no emergency case is denied timely medical care in the name of Covid.
14. Ensure adequate signage / IEC material in strategic locations of the hospital to sensitise the patient & general public about Covid appropriate behaviour.
15. Any other steps are to be adopted by Hospital Administration depending on local situation to ensure social distancing & infection control in hospitals.