For the first time in several months, the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH), the largest government tertiary care hospital in Tamil Nadu, recorded no deaths due to COVID-19 for 24 hours.
Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan told reporters that deaths due to COVID-19 among patients admitted to the government medical college hospitals as well as institutions under the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services were reducing. “There was not a single death at RGGGH on Friday,” he said.
RGGGH Dean E. Theranirajan said the hospital recorded no deaths among COVID-19 patients from 8 a.m. on October 23 to 8 a.m. on October 24.
He added that the number of daily deaths due to COVID-19 had come down slowly at the hospital because of a multi-disciplinary approach.
This was the first time in many months that the hospital, which has treated a high number of COVID-19 patients since March, is reporting zero deaths.
Managing the patients
“We framed uniform protocols for management of COVID-19 patients based on three categories of the disease: mild, moderate and severe. We established zero delay in initiating care. Chest physicians, anaesthetists, internal medicine and allied specialists such as from neurology, cardiology and nephrology were designated as treatment coordinators, with separate teams working under them,” he said.
Separate teams were formed to manage patients with diabetes and renal disease. They monitored blood sugar levels, titration of insulin and treatment, he said.
“We reviewed the deaths on a daily basis. This helped us to scrutinise the main causes of death among COVID-19 patients and take measures to prevent deaths. For instance, we noticed that dyselectrolytemia — imbalances in the electrolyte — in elderly patients. To address this, we involved the nephrology team and came up with a treatment protocol. Similarly, we have come up with treatment guidelines for patients with hypertension and COVID-19, coronary artery disease and COVID-19, and for those diagnosed with new onset diabetes,” he said.
Noting that COVID-19 cases had declined by 50%, the Health Secretary said, “For nearly a month-and-a half, the State was reporting COVID-19 cases in the range of 5,000 to 6,000 a day. This has slowly decreased. Now, on average, we are testing 80,000 samples, of which nearly 3,000 persons are testing positive.”
He said complaints were being received about private laboratories charging in excess for tests, and action would be taken if laboratories did not adhere to the fee fixed by the government.
On 7.5% reservation
Asked whether the Governor seeking time to decide on the 7.5% horizontal reservation for NEET-qualified government school students would affect medical admission counselling, Mr. Radhakrishnan said the Central government conducted counselling for the all-India quota seats separately.
“As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, we will come up with the prospectus for MBBS after the decision,” he said.
A multi-disciplinary team of doctors of RGGGH, including plastic surgeons, had treated two patients from Andhra Pradesh — a 30-year-old with facial injuries caused in an animal attack and a child with facial injuries due to an accident.