State asks Covid hosps to strictly adhere to protocols

Kolkata: The state Health department has asked all the Covid hospitals in the state — both government and private to strictly maintain the Covid protocols issued by the department.

Director of health services issued orders to the medical superintendents of all government-run Covid hospitals and the CEOs of the private owned Covid designated hospitals to bridge certain gaps found by the expert teams constituted by the department during their visit. The expert teams after visiting various Covid hospitals found some lapses and reported them to the health officials. Instructions have been given to all the chief medical officers of health in the districts as well to maintain the parameters.

The department has issued new guidelines to all the hospitals saying that recent surveillance visits to various hospitals by specially drafted teams of experts spotted certain gaps in the clinical management of the patients. As per the inputs received from the experts, the health department has made some recommendations. The administrations of all the Covid hospitals have to strictly abide by the instructions. The officials of the hospitals must discuss these points with the medical officers, specialists or the staff members so that guidelines issued by the government are properly followed.

The health department has sent a 9-point guideline to the hospitals which says that "there must be careful triaging of patients depending on the symptoms found. A Covid top–sheet as suggested by clinical management protocol of the department should be properly maintained. The bed in-charges need to maintain their daily notes properly."

The order further says: "There must be oxygen prescription mentioning the dose, appliance to be used and target saturation. This has to be closely monitored. Steroids are to be given to the patients if oxygen requirement increases and if the inflammatory markers are increased. Anticoagulant prophylaxis is to be given for moderate cases. In severe cases under appropriate circumstances, the therapeutic dose may be used. Use of antibiotics should be guided by clinical situations. Appropriate management must be provided for comorbid conditions with specialist inputs."