NEW DELHI: The Delhi government’s Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital (LNJP) has begun its preparation to tackle the cases of monkeypox. The state government has made the institute at Delhi Gate the nodal centre for the management of rare infections. According to state government officials, training of doctors has been initiated and a team of doctors is being prepared to handle the condition if the cases emerge.
The officials stated that SOPs are being laid down for the management of monkeypox. “Though the experiences of managing the Covid-19 pandemic would surely help our team, the wearing of PPE kits and masks and other protocols are essentially the same for this viral infection as well,” said a doctor with LNJP.
“India has reported the first case of monkeypox in Kerala. We are on alert and LNJP Hospital has been made the nodal centre for management of monkeypox cases if anything happens in future,” said a senior doctor working with the hospital. The doctor said that there is need to be “vigilant, but no need to panic”. According to official sources, the authorities will also plan setting up isolation facilities for confirmed and suspected monkeypox cases.
He said that the management of monkeypox would be similar to the way the LNJP team managed the Covid pandemic. Management of monkeypox would be similar to the way the hospital team managed the Covid pandemic, he added. Before being reported in India, several cases of monkeypox were reported from Britain, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the US. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe.