BHUBANESWAR: Faced with criticism over mismanagement at COVID facilities, the Odisha Government on Tuesday directed all COVID hospitals run by both the Government and private entities to set up a dedicated help desk so that the kin can get updates of their patients regularly.
The direction came in the wake of complaints from relatives of patients over not being able to access any information about the treatment and condition of their family members admitted to COVID hospitals.
In a notification issued by the Health Department, Additional Chief Secretary PK Mohapatra said the help desk with a dedicated telephone number, preferably a toll-free number, has been made mandatory for all Covid hospitals. The help desk will function round the clock.
“Relatives of patients can get regular updates on the condition of their health. The help desk apart from telephonic communication will also use social media like WhatsApp to facilitate voice and video communication of patients with their family members”, he said. The hospitals have been asked to set up a dedicated conference room outside of the COVID facility with the provision of TV and cameras which can be connected with CCTVs installed inside the facilities so that the attendant can see patients and talk to them.
The help desks to be set up in a week will collect the contact number of the kin of patients at the time of admission. Even if not inquired by the attendant, general information on the condition of the patient will be communicated as an SMS or WhatsApp message at least once a day.
The State Government has warned of action against the hospitals if they fail to set up the help desk and do not attend to calls. As the compliance of the help desk is directly related to the overall satisfaction of patients as well as attendants, non-compliance will be seriously viewed.
“It would be considered as negligence in duty towards the patient and the claim of the hospital for the same patient will be withheld. The hospitals have been asked to intimate the help desk number to the State authority so that it can be widely notified. Help desks will be well manned so as to attend all calls round the clock,” Mohapatra added.
Positivity rate soars as cases rise
As Odisha continued to test less compared to August, the daily test positivity rate climbed to 9.17 per cent (pc) from 8.2 pc a week ago. The State added 4,189 new cases in the last 24 hours taking the tally to 1,88,311. The number of tests is on the decline for the last two days. From 51,154 tests on September 19, it has come down to 47,758 on September 20 and 45,676 on September 21. The number of RT-PCR has also reduced from 10,000 to the range of 7,500 to 8,000. Eleven more patients succumbed to the disease pushing the death toll to 774. On the day, 3,834 patients also recovered. The number of active cases now stands at 34,324.