PUDUCHERRY: The Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Research Institute (IGMCRI) which is an exclusive COVID hospital would be made operational for non-COVID patients from Monday, Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao said.
COVID patients will be treated in a separate block, while treatment for non-COVID patients will be arranged in other blocks he said. Similarly, the ESI hospital at Gorimedu, where suspected COVID patients are kept in isolation will also be made operational for non-COVID patients soon. The suspected patients will be shifted to the government guest house at Uppalam, he added.
Similarly, the Mahatma Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Dental Sciences and the Mother Teresa Institute of Health Sciences would also be made operational soon, he added. Health secretary Prasanth Kumar Panda said that previously about 3500 patients used to visit the OPD of IGMCRI every day and these patients will benefit when it is made fully operational for non-COVID patients.
Meanwhile, five more persons tested positive for COVID-19 in Puducherry taking the total number of cases to 104 in the UT, Malladi Krishna Rao said here on Friday. After the discharge of six patients, the number of active cases is 62.
Among the new cases, two are from the private security agency in JIPMER, one is a contact from Solai Nagar, one from police headquarters and one who came to the Indira Gandhi Government General Hospital and Post Graduate Institute (IGGGHPGI) for OPD treatment. The source of infection of the man from police headquarters and the other who came to IGGGHPGI are not known, he said. With this, the total number of cases in Muthialpet has risen to 17.