UT hospitals restrict normal deliveries for women from outside

CHANDIGARH: The hospitals under the UT administration have restricted normal delivery services for women living outside the city jurisdictions as a measure to check the spread of Covid-19.

Chandigarh has five hospitals that cater to the needs of pregnant women, from antenatal checkups to birth. The occupancy rate here is almost always 100%.

Hospitals in the city, especially the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, have time and again called for a proper referral protocol for any type of admission or emergency case from the neighbouring states of Haryana and Punjab.

The authorities from the UT and the neighbouring states had also recently met to discuss the issue of “improper referrals” that increased the rush in hospitals here. The authorities had decided that nodal officers will be appointed for transfer of patients.

Dr BS Chavan, director-cumprincipal, Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, said the steps taken to restrict normal deliveries had been taken to stop the infection spread. “It is a temporary arrangement. If the same facilities are available in the neighbouring cities, people should prefer those. We will deal with serious and complicated cases, which come from any area. But for normal procedures, districts should take responsibility. Also, there is more chance of exposure to infection to patients here,” he said.

A senior health officer from Government Multi-speciality Hospital, Sector 16, said there had been a few cases in the past where the women had tested positive after childbirth and the staff had to be quarantined.

UT health secretary, Arun Gupta, said though no such decision [in this regard] had been taken at the highest level, it would not be wrong for the hospitals to restrict normal services.