BENGALURU: Even as four samples from Mangaluru sent to Manipal Centre for Virus Research of suspected Nipah patients came back negative on Thursday, Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner KA Dayanand along with health officials here issued guidelines to government hospitals and private hospital organisations to set up isolated wards for Nipah.
A presser was convened on Thursday to talk about the preparedness of the city for Nipah. Dayanand told The New Indian Express, “We will issue guidelines to private hospital organisations to set up isolation wards if they don’t have them already. As a part of the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments committee, I can ask private hospitals to take preventive and precautionary measures.”
Government hospitals like Victoria Hospital already have H1N1 isolation wards that may be turned into wards for Nipah if suspected cases are admitted there. KC General Hospital in Malleswaram has already allocated three beds for Nipah. Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases that acted as the nodal centre during the H1N1 outbreak also has isolation wards but does not have neourologists.
Since Nipah is a neurotropic disease, however, neurological consult is required for patients suspected to have the disease. NIMHANS being the only government tertiary care neurosciences institute is still contemplating on setting up an isolation ward. It is also the only government hospital to have a neurovirology department.
Dr BN Gangadhar, director, NIMHANS, said, “All our wards are full and bringing the patients here for neurological input puts others at risk. We may send our doctors to wherever isolation wards are set up, for example, Isolation Hospital/Epidemic Diseases Hospital on Swami Vivekananda Road.”Dr Mahesh Babu, District Health Officer, Bengaluru Urban, said, “If the hospital is more than 100-bedded, it can have at least 10 beds in the isolation ward, if it has lesser beds, it can have two to three beds allocated to Nipah isolation ward.”