The Kozhikode district administration has directed hospitals to enhance their bed capacity, set apart 50% of them for COVID-19 treatment and boost intensive care unit support.
District Collector N. Tej Lohit Reddy said in an order that this would be applicable to all private, cooperative, and Employees State Insurance hospitals and the Government Medical College Hospital. All of them should ensue that none of the infected persons are denied admission. However, unwanted hospitalisation should be strictly avoided and emergency non-COVID cases should be taken care of without fail, Mr. Reddy said.
The Collector directed hospital superintendents to assess the requirement of critical equipment to meet a possible surge in the number of patients and procure them, if needed. The authorities are reported to have taken these decisions in the wake of the spike in cases in the district and a high test positivity rate in many local bodies. COVID bed occupancy in many hospitals is nearing the saturation level.
Meanwhile, the outpatient consultation timings at the MCH have been cut by one hour. Only ‘C’ category patients, who are symptomatic and require hospitalisation, would be admitted. Only one caregiver would be allowed to accompany the patients. All the theory classes at the medical college would be in online mode. Principal V.R. Rajendran said after a review meeting that the pandemic protocol would be enforced in the hospital and college hostels. Seventeen healthcare professionals, including 10 doctors, six medical students and one other staff tested positive for the virus at the medical college on Thursday.
The number of newly infected persons in the district rose to 4,016. The number of COVID clusters in the district rose to 18, with three more being added to the list on Thursday. A daily test positivity rate of 42.70% was observed when 9,062 samples were tested.
The active caseload from the district is now 19,710. As many as 199 people are undergoing treatment at government hospitals and 394 at private hospitals.
A total of 15,048 people are under home isolation.
