Covid treatment: State issues fresh guidelines for hospitals

Kolkata: State Health department has issued fresh guidelines to the Covid hospitals asking them to take some further measures to strengthen the Corona treatment and the patients' care services at Covid hospitals in all the districts.

All the hospital authorities have been instructed to act in compliance with the proviso of West Bengal Epidemic Disease Covid 19 Regulation 2020. The hospitals have been given a detailed outline as to what steps they have to take when it comes to the management of Covid patients. Rapid antigen tests must be arranged at the SARI wards of the hospitals so that the Covid positive patients can be identified immediately and the patients may be admitted to the Covid hospital without any delay, the latest order says. It has again pointed out that before any referral the patients must be stabilized. The Health department instructed that the Principals of the medical colleges and the Chief Medical Officers of health in the districts will jointly monitor the deployment of faculties or the specialist medical officers, RMO, SR, MO at the CCU of Covid hospitals in adequate numbers.

The instruction also says that the manpower will be deployed for full time at least for one month on rotation basis. Specialists and other medical officers who have been deployed for Covid treatment must stay near the Covid hospital. Their food and lodging should be arranged by the district authority. It may be mentioned here that earlier the visiting doctors from medical colleges or the district hospitals were asked to perform Covid duty at various dedicated hospitals for 15 days at a stretch.

New order has been issued instructing the visiting doctors to perform their duty at Covid hospitals for 30 days following which they would again be shifted to their respective

medical colleges or district hospitals.

Some of the Covid hospitals had earlier urged the Health department to increase the duration of service of these doctors at Covid hospitals so that patients can be handled in a better way.

Rapid response team including one anesthesiologist and one medicine specialist will be formed to treat the identified serious patients or if there is any emergency arises, the order said. Covid patient management system (CPMS) monitoring must be done by the CMoH in the districts and the principals of the Covid hospitals.