110 more beds to be added to PGIMER Covid-19 facility

30 OF THESE HAVE BEEN EARMARKED FOR CHILDREN AT ADVANCED PAEDIATRICS CENTRE

CHANDIGARH: Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) has agreed to add 110 more beds at the Covid-19 facility on its campus.

There was an initial delay in extending the facility and the UT administration, too, had asked the institute to make arrangements at the earliest.

Professor Jagat Ram, director, PGIMER, said that they had conveyed to UT in the war room meeting that 110 beds will be added in a phased manner at the Nehru Extension Block (Covid-19 hospital). “As desired by the UT administrator, we have decided to add 110 more beds phase-wise. Currently, 30 beds have been added to the 200-bed facility,” said the director. Also of the total, 30 beds have been earmarked for children at the Advanced Paediatrics Centre.

The tertiary care institute caters to the patients referred from North Indian states, and has an occupancy of around 1,300 beds at its general hospital including those in the emergency wards.

“Quality care takes up a lot of our workforce. We have to maintain an adequate workforce for the patients in non-Covid areas as well. Plus, in Covid-19 hospital, healthcare workers have a shift of only six hours because it is very tough to work in PPEs that increases the number of staff that has to be posted there,” said Dr Jagat Ram.

BEGIN MOBILE TESTING: BADNORE TO GMSH-16

In the war room review meeting held here on Monday, UT administrator VP Singh Badnore directed Government Multi-Speciality Hospital (GMSH) at Sector 16 to begin mobile testing facilities to collect samples and give test results on the spot. This will be helpful to senior citizens who are reluctant to go to hospitals for such testings.

Badnore said that area volunteers or social workers could keep a watch on influx of people from outside. He added that the focus of the administration should be for early detection of the cases, particularly those of co-morbid patients, so that fatalities could be kept at minimum.