Bhubaneswar: Following the detection of COVID-19 patients from the hotspot districts of Odisha in government and private health facilities in Bhubaneswar, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday issued additional standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the management of the inpatient department (IPD) and outpatient department (OPD) to be mandatorily put in place to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
The additional SOPs issued by the BMC are as follows:
For OPD cases
—Triaging should be done at OPD entrance for segregating the patients/attendants coming from the hotspot districts and they should not be allowed to mix with other patients/attendants. If the person is identified with fever/SARI/ILI symptoms, the COVID-19 test will be recommended.
—The hospitals will have the responsibility to send his/her Nasopharyngeal sample/ Oropharyngeal sample for COVID 19 test and the hospital will keep the detailed address and contact number of such patients.
—Patients whose swabs have been collected for testing should be asked if he has adequate accommodation arrangement for his isolation in Bhubaneswar or not. If it is found that he doesn’t have accommodation arrangement, he will be shifted to the government quarantine centres till test results are received. The transportation of the patient will be the responsibility of the healthcare institution.
—The same procedure will be adopted for patients whose address would be in the slum areas of Bhubaneswar. In such cases also, steps will be taken for collection of swab sample and shifting him to the institutional quarantine facility.
—The hospital will appoint one a nodal officer to coordinate with Deputy Commissioner, BMC on mobile number 9439431672.
—If any sample is found positive, the hospital will immediately inform the IDSP (Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme) cell and BMC.
For IPD cases
—If a patient in IPD is detected corona positive, the guidelines issued by the Director, Health Services will be followed. For referring a positive case already in IPD/ICU to designated COVID hospital, the guidelines of the BMC will be followed.
—As a measure of extra precaution, an IPD patient, whose swab has been collected for COVID testing, may be treated as a suspected COVID case and the requisite protocol followed. Such patients should be kept in the isolated bed of the hospital, preferably to a single cabin with attached toilet till detection of positive result or shifting to COVID hospital.
—If a positive case is detected in a healthcare institution, aggressive contact tracing should be started from the hospital itself. Data collection must be initiated at the hospital level and submitted to state IDSP cell & BMC for further action.
General instructions
—All the infection prevention protocols and COVID related protocols and guidelines issued by the Health & Family Welfare Department should be strictly adhered by the health institutions.
—The hospital should practise aggressive visitors’ restriction and also enforce on its employees, coming from slum areas. It should also provide accommodation for its on duty slum-dwelling employees.
All categories of staff of the hospital should be trained on a regular basis regarding the updated guidelines issued by the Centre and the state government.
All essential services will continue maintaining standard precautionary measures like wearing masks. physical distancing of 2 metres between individuals and regular hand washing.
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