Fresh guidelines bring clarity on emergency OPD

LUCKNOW : After weeks of confusion, the state health department’s fresh guidelines have brought clarity about the running of emergency OPD service at private hospitals.

“The guidelines are welcome. They have evolved from the learnings in India and abroad. Their focus is to make the health services run smoothly,” said Dr Sandeep Kapoor, director of Health city Hospital.

The guidelines say a hospital should inform the chief medical officer (CMO) if a fresh case is reported from the hospital. Thereafter, the patient should be shifted to a Covid hospital.

Also, patients admitted in the same ward on beds immediately next to a Covid positive patient (on all four sides) should be considered high risk (patient) and shifted to an isolation ward, according to the fresh guidelines.

Their status is to be checked after five days and before 14 days elapse, the guidelines add.

“Close the ward for 24-hours, wash beds with detergent, wipe with a 70% alcohol solution later. Sanitise all equipment in the ward. If high-risk patients test negative, follow the protocol of 14-day quarantine. Also, the lowrisk patients can be discharged adequately,” the guidelines say.

“Hospitals now need not fear sealing or closure of the entire establishment, if the hospital and staff have learned and adequately follow the infection prevention protocol (IPP). The best part is that the guidelines are clear about what steps have to be taken in each situation,” said Dr Abhishek Shukla, secretary general of the Association of International

Doctors.

“The guidelines ensure all remain safe from infection, not just the patient, but also the doctors and the medical staff. I welcome such guidelines,” said Dr Anoop Agrawal, secretary of the UP Orthopaedic Association.

All staff, who have been within a distance of two metres from a Covid positive patient for more than 15 minutes, shall also be sent to quarantine and their RT-PCR test be done. Other staff (low-risk) shall remain in quarantine till the report of the high-risk staff comes.

If all high-risk staff test negative, the low-risk ones should be called back on duty, while the high-risk staff shall still follow quarantine, according to the guidelines.

Chief medical officer, Lucknow, Dr Narendra Agrawal had conducted an online meeting with representatives of different organisations about the guideline.