The Government of Telangana has decided to designate a hospital exclusively to treat COVID-19 patients. Currently, the 24-year-old techie from Hyderabad who has tested positive for the dreaded virus is admitted in an ICU located in Gandhi Hospital in Secunderabad.
Sources stressed that there is an urgent need to shift the ICU facility from the government tertiary care hospital as thousands of patients and their attendants come for treatment and admission. “It is a wrong place to isolate COVID-19 positive patients in the hospital where thousands of people visit,” sources said.
Isolation Wards in other hospitals
Apart from Gandhi Hospital - which also has a facility to test samples collected from COVID-19 suspects - Isolation Wards have been established at Sir Ronald Ross Institute of Tropical and Communicable Diseases (Fever Hospital), Nallakunta, and Government General and Chest Hospital, Erragadda.
The decision to designate a hospital exclusively for COVID-19 patients was taken on Tuesday morning after the State Health Minister Etela Rajender held a review meeting with Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) Department, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development (PR&RD) Department.
Private hospitals alerted
“The required number of Pulmonologists and nurses will be deployed,” Mr. Rajender said. Besides, private hospitals were alerted about measures to be taken. They were directed to refer COVID-19 suspects to government hospitals for treatment.
Further, the Health Department will work in coordination with nine other departments. A nodal officer will be appointed for each department.
Track and quarantine
Moreover, the process of tracking people who came in contact with the young COVID patient is underway. In fact, a few among them visited Gandhi Hospital to give their swab samples for testing. The patient’s family members are already admitted in the Isolation Ward of the hospital.