Given the high number of patients who come to the hospital for consultations, treatments and admissions on a daily basis, the JJ Group of Hospitals have decided to make its geriatric OPD and fever OPD services available to patients with an exclusively separate entrance and exit points.
"Those who are above the age of 60 are more susceptible to symptoms related to coronavirus. That is why we urge them to go to their nearby medical facilities or hospitals for any regular flu or fever. However, if they need to come to JJ Hospital for check-ups or consultations, we urge them to visit the facilities especially created at the geriatric and fever OPDs inside the campus," said Dr Rewat Kaninde, media representative, Sir JJ Group of Hospitals. “It is right there that they will get all the medicines prescribed to them by the doctors.”
Speaking to THE WEEK, Dr Pallavi Saple, dean of JJ hospital, said, "From March 23, all routine OPDs are going to be shut down. But we know that in terms of COVID-19 the geriatric population is at the highest risk of developing symptoms. If patients walk in, we give them an exclusive separate entrance and exit so that they get their consultations, investigations, medicines in one place and we also give them medicines for two months. This is to encourage them to go to the primary and secondary healthcare treatment centres rather than coming to JJ Hospital so that they save on travel and maintain social distancing. We are trying to make arrangements for close to 300 beds exclusively for COVOD- 19 patients. Sometime in the next week we are expecting our own testing laboratory to be functional."
Isolation wards are to be set up at the state-run hospital for the treatment of coronavirus patients. Meanwhile, the hospital authorities have sent a list of the equipment required for the setting up of a coronavirus testing laboratory at the earliest.
Till filing of this report on March 21, JJ hospital has referred three patients to Kasturba Gandhi hospital, which is the place where all COVID-19 patients are referred for being tested and treated.
"Soon we will be starting the wards in our own hospital where we can test and treat the patients instead of referring them to Kasturba where soon the capacity is expected to be reached," said Saple.