HYDERABAD: The state-run
Gandhi Hospital, which has been the nodal centre for the management of Covid-19 cases and has treated over 1 lakh Covid-19 patients so far, is no longer the nodal centre for Covid-19 cases and will begin operating all other departments from November 21.
Buckling under pressure from junior doctors who had been on a strike over the issue for the last six days, the state health authorities on Tuesday passed an order asking all teaching hospitals to begin treating non-critical Covid-19 patients and sending only the critical Covid-19 patients requiring tertiary care to Gandhi Hospital. While this was one of the main demands of the junior doctors, resumption of non-Covid services for academic and clinical experience of junior doctors was the other main demand, which had been agreed to previously.
As Gandhi Hospital will no longer be an exclusive hospital for Covid-19,
King Koti Hospital and
Telangana Institute of Medicals Sciences and Research (TIMS) will serve as the new nodal centres for the management of Covid-19 cases. “A decision has been taken to start non-Covid services at Gandhi Hospital,
Secunderabad on or before November 21 and instructions have already been issued to the hospital superintendent. Hence, the superintendents/directors of teaching hospitals under the control of Director of Medical Education (DME) are hereby informed that non-critical cases of Covid-19 should be treated in their respective hospitals and should not be referred to Gandhi Hospital straightaway,” read the order issued on Tuesday. Also, teaching hospitals were further asked to create Covid-19 isolation wards to treat patients who test positive.
Following the orders passed by the DME, the Telangana Junior Doctors Association (TJUDA), Gandhi Hospital branch called off their strike. “The DME has assured us that non-Covid services in all departments in Gandhi Hospital will begin and has also assured us of the removal of Covid-19 specialty hospital tag by announcing King Koti Hospital and TIMS as Covid-19 nodal centres. A circular was issued in this regard to confirm the meeting of our demands. We decided to call off the strike in response,” read a statement from junior doctors.