With virtual visiting hours, nurses bridge cellphone gap in Kolkata Covid-19 hospitals

Prithvijit Mitra & Tamaghna Banerjee | TNN | Updated: Apr 27, 2020, 10:31 IST

A patient at AMRI speaks to a member of his family on Sunday

KOLKATA: Cut off from the world and confined to an isolation chamber without a mobile phone, Covid-19 patients in Kolkata couldn’t feel more lonely. With the state health department banning mobile phones at Covid-19 treatment facilities last week, patients lost touch with everyone, including their family. Two hospitals have now come to their aid with a unique solution — they are being provided with a ‘virtual visiting hour’ or a video call with family.
AMRI Hospitals launched its virtual visiting hour on Sunday, connecting around 20 patients with their loved ones. The hospital has asked its nurses to arrange video calls every day from 4.30pm to 5.30pm. MR Bangur Hospital, too, started a similar arrangement on Sunday. Some other hospitals are also contemplating such a move.
“Since patients’ families are anxious and cell phones are banned in isolation wards, we have arranged ‘virtual visiting hours’ so that patients in isolation can keep in touch with loved ones,” read a statement issued by AMRI.
Every day, nurses at the AMRI isolation wards will connect each patient to his/her family over video call. Each patient will get around 3-4 minutes to interact with their family members.
The facility was launched at the AMRI, Salt Lake Annexe, Covid-19 facility and will soon be started at AMRI, Dhakuria, and Mukundapur.
AMRI Hospitals CEO Rupak Barua said that this will keep patients from feeling lonely. “It will alleviate their anxiety to a great extent. Our doctors believe that interacting with loved ones will help patients recover faster,” he said.
At MR Bangur Hospital, the authorities have arranged for GSM-based WLL phones in all the isolation wards where patients can speak to family members any time of the day. “However, the calls need to be on the loudspeaker and the patient needs to wear a mask while speaking to avoid contamination. After every call, the phone is properly disinfected before someone else can use it,” said Sisir Naskar, superintendent of MR Bangur Hospital.
Naskar added, the phone numbers are written on the admission ticket of the patient at the time of his/her admission. Further, the hospital authorities have also set up a helpline number — 88202 07070 — where relatives of patients can call to get their status.