CHENNAI: From being the hospital that recorded most number of deaths due to Covid to recording zero deaths, it has been a long path for the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. The hospital on Tuesday recorded zero deaths due to Covid in 24 hours, for the second time in a span of four days.
The first time it achieved this feat was on the 24 hours running from 8 am on October 23 to 8 am on October 24. Doctors said early admissions, multi-pronged approach to treatment and initiatives taken by the hospital were the primary reasons in achieving this feat. “To start with, we had a zero-delay casualty. The outpatient department was divided into two, with one for positive patients and the other for suspect cases and clinically symptomatic patients,” said Dr E Theranirajan, Dean of RGGGH.
A help desk was also set up, the dean said, “We also introduced a pre-intimation number and shared it with the Corporation and ambulance drivers. So they were able to intimate exactly how many patients would be coming, giving us time to set up beds before their arrival.” Theranirajan further stated that the protocols for treatment were uniform for all doctors and the powers were decentralised.
“We even roped in MBBS doctors. It was not just speciality doctors handling the patients.” The deaths were audited on a daily basis, which the dean said, helped doctors learn and analyse how to prevent further deaths and complications.“This helped improvise our treatment. Doctors are learning from their experience,” said the dean. Infrastructure wise, tower-3 of the hospital was also equipped with 240 oxygen points. “The first floor of the hospital had 120 beds; the second floor was a suspect ward; and three floors in the rheumatology block had well-equipped ICU beds,” he said.