Bhubaneswar: The Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) Sunday said that temporary Out Door Patient Departments (OPDs) will come up on the campuses of SCB Medical College and Acharya Harihar Regional Cancer Centre (AHRCC) soon.
The information was given by CMC Commissioner Ananya Das Sunday. She said, “The Medical Superintendent of SCB Medical College and Director of AHRCC told us in a recent meeting that more footfalls of patients in hospitals is making it tough for them to ensure social distancing inside the hospital campus.”
She added, “We have decided to rope in the Works department to create temporary OPD centres in such hospitals to spread the patient crowd in different areas to reduce gathering at one point. The Commissionerate Police has also extended its assistance for managing the crowd.”
The official said that the city has till now seen close to 350 confirmed cases of the global pandemic while more than 200 patients from the area have also recovered from it. CMC also said that it has scaled up the antigen-based tests in the hospital to screen more people from hospitals.
“We are at the same time trying to reduce the workload in OPD and trying to decentralise the doctor consultations and on the other side we are also screening the indoor patients for the viral disease. We have started conducting Covid-19 antigen tests for the indoor patients,” she said.
She added, “The benefit of antigen testing is that the results come within 30 minutes and we get more time for timely action and contact tracing. We have been able to conduct a total of 1,700 antigen tests of indoor patients in hospitals.”
Saurabh Garg, COVID Observer for Cuttack, told the media that close to 3,500 beds in Covid Care Homes in rural areas are ready to host asymptomatic suspected patients of Covid-19 in the district.
He said, “1,211 cases of Covid 19 have been detected in Cuttack district till now. Close to 860 such cases are from rural areas while a total of 350 cases are from the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) area. Recoveries have been good in the region.”
He added, “Covid Care Homes in each panchayat have been setup which hosts close to 10-12 beds. We have been able to ensure 3,490 beds in such centres across the district.”