Jipmer is expanding its non-Covid outpatients medical services in a graded manner to benefit a larger number of patients against the backdrop of a decline in the COVID-19 caseload of late.
A Jipmer press note said that the regulations that were enforced for out-patient services of Jipmer, Puducherry to prevent the spread of Covid-19 pandemic were being systematically relaxed since October 28.
While earlier, patients shortlisted during tele-consulation for in-person OP visits was capped at 25 for each department, that number has been increased to 100 patients per specialty per day.
Besides, in some of the larger departments, such as medicine, surgery and obstetrics and gynaecology, the number of patients called for physical evaluation in person has been increased to around 250 out-patients per day.
The department of medical, surgical and radiation oncology are handling over 400 out-patients per day. Thus, at the moment, over 3,000 patients are availing elective out-patient services in various non-Covid related specialties every day, Jipmer said.
400 emergency patients
In addition, on an average 400 emergency patients are being attended to by various emergency departments, such as trauma, cardiology, neurosurgery, obstetrics and gynaecology and child health, including all medical and surgical branches.
At the same, the Covid block of Jipmer has seen a decrease in the number of patients reporting for emergency or elective consultation from around 600 per day during August-September 2020 to an average of 300 patients per day now.
Jipmer has also restarted all its elective surgeries and patients needing surgeries are being prioritised based on their disease progression and clinical condition. More than 50% of the hospital bed-strength is occupied as on date, with over 1,200 patients admitted in various departments and units in the Institute.
However, in view of the risk of transmission due to overall relaxations in the community as well as in the hospital, Jipmer will continue to carefully regulate the OPD services, Jipmer Director Rakesh Aggarwal said.
This means use of measures such as universal use of masks by all patients and attenders, visits by prior appointment and tele-consultation before physical visits that allows one attender per patient. These are important to ensure proper physical distance between people attending the outpatient services, he said.