Corona burden easing, hospitals start focusing on non-COVID-19 patients
Gurugram: While Gurugram's COVID-19 curve is yet to peak, a significant decrease in the number of critical and serious Coronavirus patients has allowed healthcare facilities to direct some of their focus towards non-COVID-19 patients, some of whom have been waiting for non-emergency but crucial procedures for weeks and months.
As part of getting medical attention to non-COVID-19 patients, private hospitals have now prioritised clearing the backlog of non-emergency surgeries that were put on hold due to the pandemic demanding a major portion of their infrastructure and manpower.
Most hospitals here have started contacting patients who had procedures like cataract surgery, knee replacements, and gallbladder removals scheduled in the last four months but had been delayed due to the pandemic. However, doctors have chosen to give first preference to patients above the age of 65 and that too only after several vital tests to determine whether it is safe for them to proceed with the procedure.
In fact, Gurugram's only public healthcare facility has also now started focusing on non-COVID-19 patients, which comes as a huge relief for the district's rural population in places like Sohna, Farrukh Nagar and Nuh. Given the population makeup of the city, private hospitals outnumber public healthcare facilities, by and large, leaving public healthcare as the only other affordable option for the rural populace.
More than 350 surgeries at the Gurugram Government Hospital had to be put on hold in the last four months, and hospital authorities have now started looking at ways to clear this backlog.
"I had a Hernia operation scheduled in the last week of May. It continued to be delayed leading to worsening of my condition. My date of surgery has finally been fixed for August 3," Ratan Jindal, a patient waiting for surgery at a private hospital here, said.
Moreover, hospitals in Gurugram have also resumed Out Patient Department (OPD) services for a week now, except for dental services, which have been held in most healthcare facilities. A new dialysis center has also become operational in the Sector-10 Government hospital, with more than 50 patients already signed up for their kidney treatment at the facility.
The city has reported a total of over 8,700 COVID-19 cases and continues to report over 100 cases every day. However, a large number of patients among these are asymptomatic and recovering under home isolation, thereby easing the burden on hospitals here. As on Monday evening, district officials said Gurugram had 96 COVID-19 patients in hospitals.
