Covid -ve certificate must for patients from other districts

Coimbatore: From next week, people from other parts of the state have to get tested for Covid-19 in their place of origin and bring the certificate if they want to get admitted to a hospital in the district. Only those who test negative will be allowed in.
In emergency cases, hospitals have been asked to perform Covid-19 test immediately after performing the life-saving procedure and keep such patients in isolation until test results arrived.
Dr G Ramesh Kumar, deputy director of public health, said on Saturday they have issued a notice to a Thanjavur-based patient, who despite knowing he was positive for Covid-19 obtained an e-pass, entered the district and got admitted to One Care Hospital in the city. “The patient did not declare his Covid-19 positive status at the check post or to the hospital earlier.”
The health department has also asked VG Hospitals on Mettupalayam Road to disinfect the facility completely after one of its patients tested positive for the virus.
While most of the multi-speciality hospitals have already adopted the Covid-19 protocols, the public health department has again reminded private hospitals of the need to follow them strictly. Dr G Ramesh Kumar said, “If a patient is coming for an elective surgery, they have to undergo Covid-19 test 48 hours prior to the admission. This also applies to people from other districts. We want them to undergo Covid-19 test in their home district and bring test results when they come for hospitalization.”
Emergency patients, meanwhile, have to be tested for the virus after the medical procedure. “The patient must be kept in isolation. If the patient tests positive for the virus, the hospital must immediately identify the staff who were in contact with that person, test them, keep them in quarantine for 14 days and disinfect the areas where the patient was kept. Hospitals that get staff from another district should strictly quarantine them for 14 days, before letting them join duty,” the deputy director of public health said.
Besides this, the hospitals have also been asked to report every fever, cold and cough cases, and disinfect their entire campus periodically.