CUTTACK: Despite strict instruction to follow the Government’s standard operating procedure (SOP) for Covid management, the authorities of SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) here are yet to set up an isolation ward in the Casualty, posing threat of coronavirus spread at the hospital.
Due to lack of isolation ward, patients testing positive for Covid-19 have to lie for hours on the bed at the facility in close proximity to other patients before being shifted to the designated Covid hospital.
A female patient from Digapahandi in Ganjam district reached the hospital casualty on July 10 evening. The hospital authorities conducted a rapid antigen test following which she tested positive.
But she was shifted to designated Covid Hospital on the next day at about 1 pm though she was supposed to be isolated and shifted to Covid hospital immediately as per the SOP.
The matter of concern is that the Covid patients continued to lie on the floor of the casualty for about 18 hours.
The two male attendants were found moving in and around the casualty without any restriction and using the common toilet at the Casualty.
The way in which the patient was shifted to designated Covid hospital is also hazardous.
The two male attendants had to shift the patient with bare hands from the bed to the stretcher and then to the ambulance ignoring the safety measures undertaken by the hospital to contain the spread of the infection.
Sources said due to lack of adequate infrastructure, the hospital authorities are unable to set up an isolation room at the Casualty where the beds have been arranged adjacent to each other owing to space crunch.
“A special isolation room is being constructed to accommodate minimum 10 patients,” said SCB Medical Emergency Officer Dr Bhubanananda Moharana adding that it would take 7/8 days for completion of the facility.