Ernakulam medical college gears up to deal with rising COVID-19 cases

A total of 284 persons among the 5,618 who were admitted with symptoms at the Govt. Medical College, Ernakulam, after it was declared a COVID-19 treatment centre had tested positive, according to official statistics.

Thirty-nine of the 106 persons admitted in the intensive care unit were infected with the disease. A person who was admitted with heart disease and pneumonia died at the hospital. Twenty persons from abroad received treatment at the centre. Ten medical personnel are involved in the swab collection and testing of pilots and cabin crew participating in the ‘Vande Bharat’ initiative of bringing back stranded people from abroad.

A release said that 76% of the 4,63,510 sq.ft. space at the hospital was now being used for COVID-19 treatment. The hospital has state-of-the-art facilities and 24x7 security systems. Two-hundred-and-eight doctors are working in various shifts at the hospital.

Of this, 65 are part of the services offered by the district control room, medical ICU, triage and isolation wing. Sixty-seven of the 94 house surgeons on duty were deployed at the Govt. General Hospital, Ernakulam, where the other departments of the hospital got shifted after it was declared a COVID treatment centre. One-hundred-and-thirty-two nursing staff of the 270 are now serving at the daily isolation wing.

The hospital authorities said that 60% of the total staff were now undertaking COVID-19 duty. They undergo one-week quarantine before joining the next leg of duty, they said.