AIIMS cancels all other services, winter vacation
NEW DELHI: AMID the rise in Covid-19 cases, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has announced that all specialty clinics, routine admissions and non-essential surgeries will be stopped till further orders.
In an addendum issued by the Medical Superintendent Dr. DK Sharma to the chief of all centres and head of departments, Sharma stated that OPD services will continue in all centres including Delhi but with restricted registrations limited to only prior appointments including follow-ups.
A similar order was issued for specialty clinics. “All specialty clinics to be stopped for now and follow-up patients will be registered within follow-up appointments slots only. Along with this, all routine inpatient admissions and all routine procedures/non-essential surgeries will be temporarily stopped till further orders,” the AIIMS Hospital added. The directions come at a time when at least 50 doctors of AIIMS tested positive for Covid-19.
In the wake of the rising cases, AIIMS had also cancelled the winter vacation of its faculty members recently. “It is to inform that the competent authority has decided to cancel the remaining part of the winter vacation — from January 5 to 10 — due to ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. All faculty members are requested to join back their duty with immediate effect,” said a memorandum issued on January 3. However, the shrinkage of OPD wards is going to hamper health care facilities and will affect poor patients the most.