NELLORE: Usually buzzing with activity, the Government General Hospital (GGH) in Nellore now wears a deserted look. The number of outpatients (OPs) has fallen by more than 60 per cent, and even those who are admitted are pleading with doctors to send them home. The reason: AP’s only COVID-19-positive person is admitted at the facility.The infected student is in the isolation ward, but that hasn’t assuaged fears. As many as 900-1,000 OPs used to visit the GGH on most days, and this number used to touch 1,200 on Mondays. But now, these figures have dropped to 350 and 400 respectively.
Admitted patients’ relatives too have stopped showing up. “My mother has been admitted for a few days, and after hearing that an isolation ward was set up at the hospital, our relatives have stopped visiting,” said Sk Kalesha, an attendant of the patient. He added that his mother has asked the doctors to prescribe medicines and send her home.
Outside the hospital, schools and movie theatres have been shut, and the number of visitors to malls has dropped by up to 60 per cent. A popular mall on the way from the GGH to the RTC bus complex used to draw about 10,000 visitors a day, but now wears a deserted look.At the RTC complex, just a few passengers wait for buses, and the high demand for the Tirupati and Vijayawada routes has vanished.Meanwhile, people living within a one-km radius of the infected student’s house are choosing to stay indoors and go out only for important work.