COVID-19 patients in the State can now seek treatment in private hospitals if they desire so, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said here on Thursday.
Till now, the entire burden of COVID-19 care was being borne by government hospitals. In a shift in policy, the government has now decided that people who contract COVID-19, while in home quarantine or otherwise, should have the choice and facility of going to a private hospital for care, should they desire so, he said.
Patient volume
There will be a stage in the pandemic when the volume of patients goes up and the public health system might not be able to shoulder the entire burden alone. The government has been in talks with the private hospitals and steps are being taken early on to identify those private hospitals which are capable of offering COVID-19 care. These hospitals will function as COVID centres.
The Health Department will draw up protocols, including a uniform treatment rate or a separate COVID-19 package, Mr. Vijayan said. Front-line treatment centres, a facility for those in home quarantine to report health-related concerns, would also be set up.
The Health Minister held a videoconference with representatives of the Indian Medical Association and private hospitals on Wednesday. A point raised by the private sector was the danger of treating COVID-19 as well as non-COVID-19 patients in the same hospital, which could result in hospitals becoming amplifying centres of transmission, as has happened in Mumbai and Delhi. “One suggestion was to maintain public sector hospitals as COVID-19 hospitals as far as possible. The private hospitals can take over the care of non-COVID-19 patients in the public sector and provide treatment under schemes like Karunya,” P. Gopikumar, IMA State secretary said.
As Plan B
“Another suggestion was that the private hospitals be roped in when Plan B is rolled out or when government facilities are near exhaustion. A separate COVID-19 care package can be drawn up for the private sector. Another option is for private hospitals to let out whole blocks to the government for COVID-19 care,” he added.
Private hospitals are preparing for COVID-19 care by maintaining separate entry and exits, triaging of fever patients to prevent them from mixing with general patients and insisting that an inpatient should have only one caregiver.
