Social Distancing, PPEs And Limited Consultations: How Hospital OPDs Are Functioning During Lockdown
One of the major concerns that many had when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the nationwide lockdown on March 24 was doctor consultations.As the country was anticipating a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases, hospitals were asked to shut OPDs and admit only critical patients.?
This was a double blow, both for the patients and the hospitals.While many who were on regular medication and were on medical supervision could not do it and non-urgent surgeries had to be postponed.?
Though the PM had appealed to people to consult their doctors over the phone or video chats, many found it difficult to cope up with.?
As far as hospitals were concerned, the shutting of OPDs meant that they suffered huge financial losses, to the point where many had to cut or defer the salaries of their staff.Hospitals have been requesting the government to allow the resumption of OPDs so that critical patients can get treatment.?
Since earlier this month, several hospitals, mostly in green and orange zones have resumed limited OPDs.Even though clinics and hospitals outside containment zones were allowed to function since Lockdown 3.0, in most of the states, hospitals are waiting for their respective governments to take a final call and issue guidelines, rest assured it is not going to be back to normal at hospitals.?
Advance booking, online payments, and non-crowded OPDs are the new normal.?
If what the Sri Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi, which resumed its OPD last week is anything to go by, it will be totally different from before the COVID-19 outbreak.?
It opened after putting in place mandatory measures like prior booking, masks for every visitor and, most importantly, full safety gear for healthcare personnel.?
“Patients are advised to show their status on the Aarogya Setu app. Only low-risk cases are allowed in non-COVID zones. Appointments and payments are being done online,” Dr. Shankar Acharya, the head of OPD coordination and senior spine surgeon told The Times of India.
“Normally, we used to have a queue outside the OPD. Today, there were only a few patients. They were wearing masks. We, on the other hand, were covered from head to toe with N-95 mask, face shield, gowns, and shoe cover,” Dr.AK Bhalla, senior consultant and chairman, nephrology at SGRH said.?
There is a palpable fear among patients visiting the hospitals these days. “No one visits the cafeteria. Patients are even wary of visiting the pharmacies,” said an official at Apollo Hospital, which is running OPD services in a limited capacity.?
Others like the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi have also resumed limited OPDs and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is finalising its plan to restore services at the hospital from this week.But the number of people who will be allowed in the clinics every day will be restricted to maintain social distancing.??
