Odisha: Hospital-on-wheels for non-Covid patients in Ganjam

BERHAMPUR: In these times, where hospitals are overwhelmed with coronavirus cases, many non-Covid patients who are in urgent need of medical care have delayed treatment due to fear of contracting the virus. And as cases kept rising, the fear increased manifold.
In an attempt to minimise the suffering of such people, the Ganjam district authorities on Tuesday launched five ‘hospital-on-wheels’ — mobile health units equipped with health staff and testing facilities — to provide medical treatment at one’s doorstep.
“Each unit is going to have at least one doctor, nurse, pharmacist and an attendant. It will have all basic medical facilities,” district collector Vijay Amruta Kulange said after flagging off the units, provided by the Tata Steel SEZ (Gopalpur), at Chhatrapur.
“The doctors will treat patients who are not down with coronavirus, like has been happening at the fever clinics which have been opened in the urban primary health centres (UPHC) in Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) area,” Kulange added.
“If a patient exhibits symptoms of Covid-19, s/he will be advised to take a swab test. The patient may be shifted to a Covid centre or a hospital if the tests turns out positive,” Kulange said, adding that the block development officers would coordinate over the deployment of the mobile health units. “The officers will inform the sarpanches, who will keep the residents informed well in advance,” the collector said.
While the basic tests such as blood pressure and sugar will be done in these moving hospitals, in case anyone needs further diagnosis, they will be referred to the appropriate health facilities.
Two of the mobile units will be stationed within the Berhampur Municipal Corporation area, while the remaining three will be deployed in the sub-divisions of Berhampur, Bhanjanagar and Chhatrapur. “The mobile units have come as a huge relief for the non-Covid patients as the out-patient departments of major government hospitals, including MKCG Medical College and Hospital, have remained shut to contain the spread of the virus,” health activists said.
Health activist Suresh Chandra Sahu said it was a good initiative. “While the residents of Berhampur can go to the fever clinics for seeking treatment, people in the rural areas have been deprived of such facilities,” he added. The fever clinics are functioning in eight UPHCs here.In a related development, different organizations in the district have demanded the resumption of services at the MKCG OPD. It is the biggest referral hospital of southern Odisha.