Ten months after the government of Delhi transformed Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital into a dedicated Covid center, the institute is scheduled to resume regular hospital functions on Monday.
The hospital will restore the duties and activities of the OPD. It would, however, only be available for three days—Monday, Wednesday, and Friday said hospital spokesperson Dr. Chhavi Gupta.
“But, as a super specialty hospital, tomorrow is an important day for us as after 10 months a surgery will be conducted at the facility which had been all closed as we had become a fully COVID facility,” she added.
Until recently, when it was transformed into a partial COVID-19 hospital, the 650-bed RGSSH was a dedicated coronavirus center, along with six other government-run hospitals in Delhi, including Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital.
At the 2000-bed LNJP Hospital situated in central Delhi, the largest facility under the city government, the OPD services resumed on 4 January.
The change will come as a major relief for individuals, especially the citizens of eastern Delhi and Ghaziabad, on whose borders the hospital is situated. On March 1, when a businessman from eastern Delhi tested positive for the infection, the national capital registered its first coronavirus case.
Besides, bypass surgery is scheduled at the hospital for the first time after the epidemic disease act was enforced in the country to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr. B.L. Sherwal, the hospital’s medical director, said that patients who have been followed up by the hospital and are waiting for their surgery there will be given priority.
“The hospital would restart the OPD ward from Monday and would perform cardiac surgery as well. However, preference will be given to those who are already on the waitlist,” he added.
Delhi reported 399 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, the seventh time that the daily incidence rate was below the 500-mark in January, while the positivity rate decreased to 0.51%.
The count of infection in the city was 6.3 lakh and the death toll was 10,678 with 12 new fatalities, they said.
“The OPDs of medicine, surgery, pediatric and gynecology have resumed serving the general public at the LNJP Hospital. But, the number of patients who can be seen, has been capped to 50 for each of the four departments,” the hospital official said earlier.
At the same time, the hospital also reserved maximum beds for Covid-19. Officials said that 500 out of 640 beds are still demarcated for patients with viral disease.
Sherwal said it was done in anticipation of a surge that might occur due to the mutant strains of SARS-CoV-2. “It is done as a precautionary measure to isolate the Covid patients and their contacts who are suspected or found confirmed with the mutant strains,” he said.
Rajiv Gandhi Hospital, along with Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital was converted into dedicated coronavirus facilities on 16 March following the outbreak of Covid-19.
