JIPMER will suspend its regular OPD – outpatient services from August 24 to focus more on providing critical care for the increasing number of Covid patients in Pondicherry. However emergency services in all specialties and OPD through tele-consultation will continue as usual, according to a statement issued by JIPMER Director Rakesh Aggarwal.
The rapid increase in Covid patients (current doubling time around 14 days) and patients requiring intensive hospital care/ high flow oxygen are among the reasons for suspension of OPD services at JIPMER. From 200 beds allotted for COVID patients initially, JIPMER has now expanded it to 325; the number of beds with centralised piped oxygen have also increased.
The disease burden in Puducherry in recent days, as cases per million, is about the highest among all states in the country: JIPMER director
Go here to register online for tele-consultation OPD services at JIPMER
Health Care Workers for Emergencies
This has also pushed the demand for healthcare workers tending to Covid patients. The closure of OPD services is to ensure that health care personnel are available for specialized emergency services not available elsewhere in the region.
The hospital has seen a large number of health workers being infected with Covid (see table below) . According to the director , another challenge JIPMER faces is the high proportion of asymptomatic patients in non-Covid wards who test positive after admission. A number of health workers have contracted the infection from them and are hospitalised or isolated while their colleagues who have been in close contact with them are quarantined.
| MONTH : 2020 | PATIENTS ADMITTED IN NON-COVID WARDS WHO WERE LATER FOUND POSITIVE FOR COVID- 19 | JIPMER HEALTHCARE WORKERS WHO CONTRACTED COVID-19 |
| APRIL | 1 | 0 |
| MAY | 8 | 1 |
| JUNE | 6 | 18 |
| JULY | 85 | 78 |
| AUGUST. (till 18 ) | 143 | 136 |
| TOTAL | 243 | 233 |
If the situation continues, there is the risk of massive disruption of services due to non-availability of healthcare personnel for various specialized services, in particular those of emergency nature that are not available in other hospitals in the region.
Who is admitted where?
As of now, aymptomatic patients are in home isolation, patients with mild symptoms are admitted in the private medical college hospitals . Those requiring increased medical attention (have co-morbidities etc ) are admitted to either IGMCRI or JIPMER.
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