In the battle against Covid, PIMS's role minimal
Aparna Banerji
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, June 5
Jalandhar Civil Hospital is housing over 200 patients at one point of time and a number of private hospitals are also referring Covid suspects coming to them to other establishments, however, not a single Covid case has been referred to the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Jalandhar, so far.
Of the 270 positive cases reported in Jalandhar so far, none was reported or referred to the PIMS.
Spread over 56 acre, PIMS is a tertiary care centre with an aim to address the health problems of Doaba region residents. However, its role in the battle against Covid-19 has so far been minimal.
A majority of Covid cases are with the Civil Hospital and many others are being referred to DMC, CMC, PGI, and the IMA facility at Shahkot.
Sources said one of the primary reservations among the authorities at PIMS was of housing Covid patients, as all wards in the hospital were housed in one building and medical facilities were all interlinked. Besides, at present, the medical college had only five ventilators, of which only two could be used for Covid patients. Sources said PIMS had sought additional ventilators from the state government, but didn’t receive any response.
The sources said PIMS had been told to treat Covid patients, in case of emergencies, early in April. However, the medical college was recently de-reserved in the light of reduced Covid cases.
Civil Surgeon Dr Gurinder Kaur Chawla said, “At present, PIMS is not taking any Covid cases. We aren’t referring any of our patients there, as in the past PIMS has refused to us on multiple occasions. Rest is for the authorities and the district administration to decide.”
Amit Singh, CEO, PIMS, said, “A 300-bed at PIMS is available for Covid patients. At present, we are catering to our patients only, but if a need arises, we will be willing to extend full cooperation to the district administration and the health authorities to fight Covid.”
Anurag Aggarwal, Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, said, “Given the active cases in Jalandhar which stand at 40, the number of beds at the civil hospital is enough. We are planning to resume operations at the civil hospital, where the de-addiction centre would serve as a Covid unit.”
