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“Author : Dr M I Sahadulla, Chairman and Managing Director, KIMSHEALTH, a world-class multispecialty hospital”
India,
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Thiruvananthapuram/ New Delhi, December 28, 2020 :
Political leaders and opinion makers will, going forward, focus more on making healthcare a priority sector and give it an Industry status acknowledging that healthcare is the fundamental right of every Indian citizen.
It should become a much more debated subject in election manifestos and in budgets, if we are to achieve universal healthcare by 2030.
The Covid-19 outbreak has created greater awareness among healthcare workers, resulting in increased productivity. The developments in the sector following the pandemic will make it the first or second biggest employer in the country. A collaborative approach will be the main pillar of the new normal in the aftermath of Covid-19, which has wrought destruction on all aspects of life.
Public-Private-Participation, Private-Private-Participation and effective utilisation of our resources, centralised procurement, mergers and acquisition etc will all become effective measures to be leveraged for the future.
The disruption due to the pandemic was outrageously harmful. It has transformed healthcare without question and we had to adopt to new mindset accepting a new way of healthcare delivery.
From the beginning of the pandemic, KIMSHEALTH had taken all steps possible to prevent in-hospital transmission of Covid-19. A separate screening clinic has been setup to cater to patients who exhibit symptoms of Covid-19 or possess high-risk travel history.
Every patient getting admitted to the hospital is screened for Covid-19. Utmost care is taken in patient care, including universal use of N95 masks and face shields by all healthcare workers and strict adherence to hand hygiene.
We have also ensured that no patient is denied timely care because they are Covid-19 positive or suspects. Separate facilities have been assigned for Covid-19 patients requiring special care: including those requiring surgeries and pregnancy care.
A separate ‘Respiratory ED’ has been created for all those who have symptoms suggestive of Covid-19. Rapid PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests including True nat and Gene Xpert are utilised to screen all patients, so that reports are available early and Covid-19 patients are separated from others at the earliest.
High quality PPE (personal protective equipment), N-95 masks and face shields have been provided to all staff. Sessions have been conducted for training health care workers in hand hygiene, PPE donning and doffing.
All high-risk contacts of positive cases are identified by a ‘contact tracing team’ working24x7, and are tested by RT-PCR (real-time polymerase chain reaction). Periodic surveillance testing has also been done among healthcare workers who are at high risk for infection.
We have created an entirely different pathway for Covid-19 patients coming in for labour and delivery. This ensures that there is no mixing of patients, while timely care is provided to both Covid-19 negative and positive pregnant women. Rapid PCR test is used for pregnant women, which helps in early segregation. We also ensure that there is no delay in providing service to pregnant women, just because they are Covid-19 positive or suspect.
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