How do COVID-19 patients spend their time in hospital isolation? After finding that many of them were bored and constantly glued to their mobile phones, doctors at the Government Corona Hospital, Guindy, in Chennai, decided to create a library to enable patients to take up reading.
With the help of donors and discharged patients, the hospital administration collected around 1,700 books and set up a 500 sq. ft. library on the second floor of the building.
K. Narayanasamy, Director, Government Corona Hospital (National Institute of Ageing), said, “The patients have an hour of yoga every day. But after that, many were constantly on their mobile phones and were feeling bored as they were away from home. We wanted to help de-stress their minds and make them feel at home as well as enable them to know what is happening across the world by providing them books and newspapers”.
The library consists of books in both Tamil and English, and has seven to eight sections. This includes education, medical (general), history, mental health, novels, comics, children’s health and yoga. Ten daily newspapers — both in English and Tamil — are also available at the library. “We have a designated staff for the library and are keeping it open from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. every day,” he said.
When they came up with the idea of establishing a library, they roped in patients who were discharged from the hospital after COVID-19 treatment, he added. “They, along with a few others, have donated these books,” he said.
The library was received with a lot of cheer by the patients. In the feedback book, a number of them wrote about how reading helped them stay relaxed during isolation in the hospital. “It is great for relaxing the mind,” one of them wrote.
Some of them even suggested that the library be kept open longer.
