NEW DELHI: The Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre (JPNAT) will partially resume normal services soon, sources in the AIIMS confirmed. A meeting was called by the Director of AIIMS with faculty members two days ago when a decision was taken to restart trauma centre as Covid-19 cases have gone down marginally.
“Trauma centre will soon resume partially and a circular in this regard could be expected anytime. Three wards and operation tables and one ICU will be opened soon. Hope this will enable the departments to fasten surgeries per day,” said a doctor who didn’t wish to be named.
Routine outpatients and non-emergency surgeries were suspended at AIIMS in March 2020, when India went into the first lockdown. Emergency services were shifted to the main AIIMS and the trauma centre was turned into a dedicated facility for Covid-19 patients.
Last week the resident doctors’ association had written to the director requesting to restart the trauma centre as 90 per cent beds were lying unutilised. RDA had also stated that suspension of trauma services also impacted their learning process.
Senior members had also raised concern over emergency trauma services being affected due to non-availability of emergency beds. The resident doctors claimed that only 20 to 30 patients had been in the JPNATC Covid-19 facility for the last 1.5 months, which is just 10 per cent of the occupancy. But the whole building (7 storeys) remains blocked and because of this trauma patients are unable to get timely treatment, the doctors said.