Relief as DDU hospital OPD resumes today in Shimla
Tribune News Service
Shimla, June 20
Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital (DDUH) will reopen its Out Patient Departments (OPD) from tomorrow, two months after the hospital located in the centre of the city was declared an exclusive Covid facility. The hospital, along with the zonal hospital, Dharamsala, was denotified as dedicated Covid hospital, a couple of days back.
Apart from treating non-Covid patients, facilities such as issuance of disability certificates, medical/fitness certificates, etc, will also resume. All these services were shifted to Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital, when the hospital was notified as Covid centre on April 18.
Arrangements for third wave
Even as the hospital is shifting its focus on non-Covid patients, it is making parallel preparations for the anticipated third wave
With the wave likely to affect children more, the hospital has prepared a proposal to set up five ventilator-supported ICU beds and 20 oxygen-supported ICU beds
“All Covid patients have been discharged. The hospital has been sanitised and we are all set to resume the OPD services from tomorrow,” said DDU MS Dr Ravinder Mokta. For the record, as many as 677 Covid patients were admitted to the hospital after April 18, he said. “We had a recovery rate of around 94 per cent, with 37 deaths,” said Dr Mokta.
In normal times, the hospital witnesses a footfall of 1,200 to 1,500 patients every day from Shimla, Kinnaur and Solan. “The hospital, especially the ortho department, sees a lot of patients. The resumption of the OPD facility will be a relief to all patients this hospital caters to,” said Inderjeet Singh, councillor of the area.
Even as the hospital is shifting its focus on non-Covid patients, it is making parallel preparations for the anticipated third wave. With the wave likely to affect children more, the hospital has prepared a proposal to set up five ventilator-supported ICU beds and 20 oxygen-supported ICU beds. “We have already submitted the demand of ventilators for children,” said Dr Mokta.
Also, discussions to enhance the capacity of the oxygen plant set up at the hospital are on. “The current capacity of the PSA plant is 300 litres per minute. The discussions are on to enhance it,” said Dr Mokta. The enhancement in capacity would reduce the dependence of the hospital on cylinders to a large extent. “Also, a CT-scan machine is being set up on PPP mode at the hospital,” he said.
