Keral

Health Department starts running Ponkunnam hospital

Functioning hit after 140 staff went in quarantine

The Health Department, in consultation with District Collector M. Anjana, despatched a team of health experts to a private hospital at Ponkunnam on Sunday, the operation of which has been suspended for two weeks after two of its employees tested positive for COVID-19.

The closure of the hospital had left several patients undergoing dialysis there in the lurch.

The team of experts, including a senior dialysis technician at the Government Medical College Hospital, Kottayam, took charge of the hospital and conducted dialysis to three patients on the first day.

Dialysis

Over the next two weeks, they are scheduled to conduct 48 dialysis on 10 patients using the three machines there.

“A direction was issued to run the hospital after sending the primary contacts of the positive cases to quarantine. The entire 140 staff decided to go in quarantine at one go. The sudden move left several patients, including pregnant women and those having kidney ailments, in distress,” said Jacob Varghese, District Medical Officer, Kottayam.

The team carries out dialysis to each patient based on a schedule handed over by the hospital authority.

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