Patna: OPD services to start in 2-3 days

Sheezan Nezami | TNN | Updated: Apr 15, 2020, 07:00 IST

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PATNA: It will take a couple of days more for outpatient department (OPD) services to begin in the district and sub-divisional hospitals across the state, a health department official said on Tuesday. Moreover, OPD services will not resume in primary health centres (PHCs) across the state.
OPD facility was stopped in the district and other hospitals after the nationwide lockdown from March 15 to maintain the protocol for prevention of Covid-19 spread, but emergency and institutional services were being carried out.
CM Nitish Kumar on Sunday asked the officials to resume OPD services in government health facilities. There are 36 district hospitals, 46 SDHs and 534 PHCs in Bihar.
“We will resume OPD services in two to three days across the state. But there is no plan to start OPD in PHCs,” additional secretary (health) Manoj Kumar told TOI on Tuesday.
“At least 600 people come to district hospitals everyday. We are preparing a strategy to screen all such people at the entrance of the hospital,” he said.
Manoj said the health department has ensured that emergency and institutional deliveries are carried out in all health institutes without any disruption. But several health institutes in rural and suburban areas had stopped providing emergency services.
Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) superintendent Dr Manish Mandal said they have extended their emergency as OPD and closed all the entry points, except one to regulate the inflow of people. “A specific area has been identified for this purpose to ensure there is no crowding. Also we started teleservices and consultancy over WhatsApp and video calls and attending to 300 to 400 patients everyday through such means,” he said.
Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) superintendent Dr Bimal Karak said they too ran OPD services even during lockdown with stress on social distancing.