New Delhi : Cancer hospital to restart OPD tomorrow

New Delhi: The Delhi State Cancer Institute (DSCI), which was shut down about a fortnight ago when 27 of its staff members and four patients tested positive for Covid-19, has decided to resume OPD services from Tuesday.

The hospital said this was being done to ensure that the patients registered with it and others didn’t have to suffer due to lack of treatment. “We have been getting many calls from patients enquiring about the OPD services and for admissions. Therefore, a decision has been taken to resume services in a phased manner,” said a senior doctor.

Confirming it, Dr B L Sherwal, medical director of the hospital, said, “We plan to start the OPD services in a limited capacity from Tuesday. Indoor admissions may also start over the next five to six days.”

A senior resident doctor working in preventive oncology division at DSCI was the first to be detected with Covid-19. Later, 26 other staff members, including doctors and nurses, also tested positive while the rest of the hospital staff, who tested negative for the novel coronavirus infection, were advised self-quarantine. Four patients admitted to the hospital also tested positive, out of whom two have died, a source said.

To reduce the risk of infection spread in future, the hospital is setting up a flu clinic at its entrance. Anyone entering the hospital will have to undergo screening for Covid-19 symptoms and a person with any sign will be referred to a facility designated for Covid-19 treatment. The OPD service is also being moved out from rooms to the waiting area, which is open, the source said.

“A public works department team will visit the hospital on Monday to see if DSCI can be run without a centralised airconditioning system and other changes needed for re-starting the services without endangering the life of anyone in the hospital,” said a senior doctor, adding that all OPD appointments would have to be pre-booked.

In the meantime, AIIMS is starting a tele-medicine facility for OPD consultation from Monday to help its existing non-Covid-19 patients and others who may require urgent attendance to disease symptoms.

During a recent video conference with Delhi lieutenant governor Anil Baijal, health minister Satyendar Jain and medical superintendents of major central and state government hospitals, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan urged hospitals to attend to critical non-Covid-19 patients with equal compassion.

Vardhan said he had been receiving a lot of complaints regarding denial of treatment to non-Covid patients suffering from critical ailments other than Covid-19 such as patients requiring dialysis and blood transfusion or suffering from respiratory or heart diseases, and pregnant mothers.

“We need to take a serious view against this denial of treatment to patients who have been visiting hospitals in case of an emergency and are being forced to visit a number of hospitals, one after another, resulting in denial of immediate medical attention, which may result in loss of their lives,” he had said.