Nearly 60% of the people queuing up at Kasturba Hospital’s COVID-19 outpatient department (OPD) have either been referred by private practitioners without taking proper history or are there as they have panicked. Doctors on the front line at the OPD say such referrals are putting people at unnecessary risk.
“In the past several days, I have seen many people in the OPD with slight cough and cold who have been referred to the COVID-19 OPD by private doctors. The patients are being referred for testing without the doctors checking their travel history at all,” said a resident doctor posted at the hospital.
Many people who have not travelled abroad or been exposed to a positive patient are also walking in. “Many of them are coming with children. They are simply putting themselves and their children at risk, as there is always a chance of a positive COVID-19 patient waiting in the queue,” the doctor said.
According to the current guidelines, those with a history of international travel who develop symptoms like fever, cough or difficulty in breathing should be tested. The Indian Council of Medical Research also says that healthcare workers managing respiratory distress/ severe illness should be tested when symptomatic.
Deputy executive health officer of the BMC, Dr. Daksha Shah, said they have held training programmes for members of the Indian Medical Association, Association of Medical Consultants and other doctors’ bodies so that patients with regular flu don’t get referred to the OPD. “As and when the guidelines change, we update them as well,” she said.
As on Friday, Kasturba Hospital has received 3,682 people in the COVID-19 OPD. The BMC has also started more COVID-19 OPDs at HBT Trauma Care Hospital in Jogeshwari, Bhabha Hospitals in Kurla and Bandra, and Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar
