BHUBANESWAR: As COVID-19 cases continued to surge, Odisha Government has made some strategic changes in undertaking measures for management of new infections.
While initially private entities were roped in to set up Dedicated COVID Hospitals (DCHs) to keep the public hospitals away from the coronavirus infection, it has been decided to open separate COVID units at the Medical Colleges and Hospitals (MCH). In the first phase, two separate COVID units are coming up at SCB MCH, Cuttack and SLN MCH, Koraput.
The SCB MCH will have a 200-bed COVID unit with 39 ICUs in the existing medicine building and another 30-bed unit for maternity patients at the Obstetrics and Gynaecology department. Similarly, a portion of the Surgery ward of SLN MCH will be converted to a 70-bed DCH having five ICU beds.
Additional Chief Secretary of Health PK Mohapatra said as per the new strategy, every medical college will have a DCH so that serious COVID patients can get specialised care and it will help reduce the fatalities further.
“We have a 150-bed DCH at MKCG MCH, Berhampur. Now, we will have DCHs at SCB, SLN and VIMSAR at Burla. The VIMSAR will have a 100-bed DCH with 20 ICUs,” he said.
In the next phase, Mohapatra said, the MCHs at Balangir, Baripada and Balasore will have dedicated COVID units depending on the caseload. As antigen tests have been made mandatory for all elective cases, it will be easier for the MCHs to keep people testing positive in their dedicated units, he said.
“However, strict instructions have been given to the MCH authorities to ensure that the general patients visiting the hospitals do not come in contact with the COVID patients and prepare roster duty of medical staff accordingly,” he added.