PUDUCHERRY: JIPMER will selectively re-start outpatient (OPD) services, exclusively by appointment through prior telephone and video consultation, from May 8.
According to an official release from JIPMER, patients wanting a consultation have to call JIPMER OPD at the phone number 0413-2298200 and an appointment with date and time for initial telephone and video consultation will be sent as an SMS on the patient’s registered mobile phone.
After the video consultation, an SMS for in-person consultation will be sent to patients for whom the doctor considers that a personal visit to the hospital is required. Only patients with a prior in-person appointment will be seen in the OPD. Only one person will be allowed to accompany each such patient. On arrival at JIPMER, they will be verified for confirmation of their appointment at the main gate of the institute. Those with appointments will be screened at the Screening OPD for respiratory symptoms and fever, before being directed to the respective OPDs.
Patients and those accompanying them will be required to wear masks while entering the hospital, as per the government guidelines. Travel restrictions as imposed by government authorities will apply and patients are requested to comply with the government restrictions on that day. The institute is unable to take responsibility for any difficulties in travelling to JIPMER and cannot request exemptions from government authorities, stated the release.
It may be noted that the Puducherry government has restricted the entry of patients from other states with minor illnesses that can be treated in their respective district hospitals.
Meanwhile, all the three COVID-19 patients admitted to JIPMER are stable. With the help of health and police authorities of the Union Territory, JIPMER has done extensive contact tracing for these three patients. Of the 46 contacts who have been categorized as high risk, initial RT-PCR testing has been completed for 44 as per the National guidelines. In this first test, all the 44 contacts have been found to be negative.
All the 46 high-risk contacts continue to be quarantined in the institute. The test will be repeated at appropriate intervals based on their time of exposure. 61 contacts with low-risk exposure are under self-monitoring and none has so far reported symptoms, said JIPMER authorities.