The State government on Thursday issued directives to all hospitals regarding treatment of COVID-19 patients and decongestion of premises. It has stressed that no patient be turned away without examination and required intervention under any circumstances.
The directives will have to be implemented from 10 a.m. on May 2.
As per the order signed by Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta, all asymptomatic patients without co-morbidities should be shifted to appropriate COVID-19 care centres immediately and hospitals should ensure not to admit asymptomatic positive patients without co-morbidities.
“Similar patients in private hospitals should be stamped and sent away for home quarantine after proper counselling according to the government of India guidelines,” the order said.
Unique ID for admissions
It has asked the Directors of Health Services to prepare a standard operating procedure for screening, transferring, admitting and discharging patients.
In Mumbai, each patient requiring hospitalisation will be assigned a unique ID by the round-the-clock on-site team of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s disaster management department, without which admission will not be granted. “[The department] should use this more accurate and efficient bed management in all hospitals,” the order said.
The government has also directed that any patient entering hospital premises for COVID-19 or other treatment should be immediately checked into the casualty ward or screening clinic and after triage, the patient may be shifted or admitted.
Triage for all patients
It said hospitals should collect swabs of all suspected COVID-19 patients on top priority and ensure that reports are collected within 12 hours. They should ensure that patients are triaged as per clinical conditions and shifted to COVID-19 care centres, dedicated COVID-19 health centres or dedicated COVID-19 hospitals.
If a COVID-19 patient dies, the hospital administration has to ensure that the body is moved from the ward within 30 minutes of the death and is disposed of within 12 hours.
The mobilisation of the ambulances within Mumbai limits should be controlled by the civic disaster management department, said the order.