With the rising new COVID-19 positive cases, the government and private hospitals in the district are gearing up to handle the additional number of cases.
Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) Dean J. Sangumani said that health infrastructure in the hospital has been geared up to handle the rising number of cases.
Medical Superintendent M. Balasubramaniam said that there are a total of 1,561 beds to treat COVID-19 patients in the COVID-19 speciality wing of the GRH, Government Hospital for Thoracic Medicine at Thoppur, and old OG block of GRH. Currently, non-COVID-19 cases are routinely treated at the hospital. ‘We will postpone the elective surgeries only if there is a sudden spike in cases,’ he said.
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The government website shows that there are a total of 34 private hospitals in Madurai that have allocated separate beds to treat COVID-19 patients.
Varun Ramamurthy, Consultant Intensivist, Corona care team of Velammal Medical College Hospital and Research Institute, said that separate wards are earmarked to treat COVID-19 patients. There are separate entrance, wards and Intensive Care Unit to treat the COVID-19 positive patients, he said. ‘Since it has been over a year that the hospital has been treating COVID-19 patients, there is better planning now to handle additional positive cases,’ he said.
He emphasised that the positive cases were spreading rapidly. Use of mask in public places, frequently washing hands and avoiding crowded places are important to contain the spread of cases.
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J. Adel, General Manager, Operations, Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre, said that from Monday onwards they are restricting visitors so as to avoid crowding inside the hospital. Vaccination for COVID-19 is one of the ways to contain the spread of COVID-19.The hospital has the latest equipment to monitor the patients round the clock, he added.