Demand to equip peripheral govt. hospitals for COVID treatment

Non-COVID patients will be affected by turning MCH into ‘sole point of definitive care’

A section of doctors is apprehensive that non-COVID patients will be affected by the ongoing efforts to turn the Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, to what they termed as the “sole point of definitive care” for those infected by the virus. They are also worried that the existing system to mainly utilise the services of house surgeons and resident doctors for the treatment will be effective on a long-term basis. According to sources, all the main wards in the general medicine department are slowly turning into COVID-only facilities right now. The newly constructed block under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) too will be utilised for the treatment as more cases are being reported. Some doctors at the MCH told The Hindu that this was likely to affect the treatment of non-COVID patients. They claimed that a majority of the other government hospitals in the district were ill-equipped to provide even basic oxygen care and support to the patients even a year after the pandemic struck.