The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike on Thursday launched a new software for hospital bed allocation for patients walking into Physical Triaging Centres (PTC) and COVID-19 Care Centres (CCC) in Bengaluru. A total of 26 hospitals are mapped across all zones for beds to be blocked exclusively from triaging centres.
During the launch of the software, Forest and Environment Minister Arvind Limbavali, who is the nodal minister for control rooms, said BBMP plans to move towards mandatory physical triaging as a prerequisite for all patients seeking hospital admission. At present, triaging is mostly taking place over the telephone through zonal and central control rooms. This facility will continue to be available.
“By making physical triaging as the primary source of patient evaluation over tele-triaging, more rational and optimal allocation of critical care hospital beds can be made. In accordance, BBMP’s COVID-19 Hospital Bed Management System (CHBMS) has now been upgraded, and a detailed Physical Triage Module (PTM) has been developed and integrated,” according to a statement from the civic body.
Presently, PTM is deployed at 16 physical triage centres across eight zones, and this will soon be increased. These physical centres are fully functional to triage all walk-in patients, evaluate them clinically, and allocate beds. They are equipped with ambulances, which can double up as Mobile Triage Units (MTUs) for patients who are unable to visit the PTCs, due to their medical condition.
Each PTC has two doctors and two paramedics in each shift, along with computer and internet facilities. They are attached to at least one COVID-19 Care Centre with oxygen beds, and 26 hospitals across the city, BBMP said.
