AIIMS to open OPD only after Covid cases decline

BHUBANESWAR: AIIMS Bhubaneswar that has shut its OPDs since July 10 will wait till Covid-19 shows a downward trend to reopen. Even elective surgeries have been kept on hold.
Gitanjali Batmanabane, director of AIIMS Bhubaneswar, said her institution has been focussing on emergency patient services and indoor patient department (IPD) services. “We cannot tell exactly when the OPD services will resume, but we will open it after witnessing a declining trend in Covid-19 cases in the state,” she added.
Batmanabane said they shut the OPD after witnessing several positive cases among patients and hospital staff since July 1. “Many of the hospital staff are under quarantine after coming in contact with positive cases.
Besides this, several hospital staff are staying in containment zones and they cannot come to the hospital. Keeping all these situations in mind, the institution closed its OPD services,” she added.
Sources said around 40 hospital staff, including doctors and nurses, have been infected with Covid-19. Some of them have recovered. Around 60 patients undergoing treatment in the hospital had tested positive for Covid-19 and 300 of the hospital staff were under quarantine.
“We are not doing elective surgeries in this situation. We are allowing emergency surgeries only. We will continue IPD services, trauma and emergency services round the clock. Besides, daycare services, radiotherapy, dialysis, telemedicine and tele consultation services will continue,” said Batmanabane.
Apart from existing telemedicine services, the hospital has launched an app ‘AIIMS Bhubaneswar Swasthya’ on July 9 to provide online consultation through mobile phone. Patients can register their name and details and consult with doctor about his/her health issues. Even the patient can upload documents in the app so that doctors can see the case history. The app can be downloaded from Google play store.
The institution which celebrated it’s 8th foundation day on Wednesday has planned to complete the work of the burn unit on the hospital campus. It is being built at the cost of Rs 14 crore under the CSR scheme of the NTPC. AIIMS is also focussing on completing level-I trauma building in the next one year.
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