Jipmer has performed 376 major surgeries, including life-saving procedures for patients with cancer, complex brain and heart operations in the three months since the lockdown in late March.
According to a Jipmer press note, as a COVID designated institution, Jipmer has been balancing the provision of tertiary health care facilities in all the non-COVID specialties as well as the COVID-19 pandemic despite significant constraints.
The essential non-COVID services that have been continuously run include high-risk deliveries, neonatal services, maintenance haemodialysis, diagnostic services, blood and blood component transfusion, emergency surgeries, etc.
Till June 30, 3,861 chemotherapy cycles have been administered to previously-registered cancer patients and 410 newly-diagnosed patients with various cancers were registered and started on chemotherapy. In addition, three patients each have received autologous and allogeneic bone marrow transplantation during the same period, and over 800 cancer patients have received blood transfusions in the department of medical oncology, the note said.
The department of radiation oncology delivered 3,351 radiotherapy sessions, 85 brachytherapy sessions, and 2,574 chemotherapy sessions.
As a COVID-designated institution, Jipmer has also admitted 1,644 patients suspected for COVID-19 since the onset of the first lockdown. A majority of these admissions have been for patients from Puducherry, but also included many from adjacent districts in Tamil Nadu. As on July 4, 142 confirmed and 12 suspected COVID-19 patients are admitted in the COVID block at the institute.
While the lockdown in late March led to a significant disruption in elective patient care services — following the need to avoid crowding and maintaining social distancing norms, travel restrictions, and diversion of specialist staff to COVID care, etc., — the institute continued to provide all the emergency services in all the disciplines.
With phased relaxation of the lockdown, Jipmer launched steps to regulate outpatient crowd with preliminary screening and telephone-based consultation. By end-April 2020, the out-patient service was extended to appointment-based hospital visits, an arrangement that is continuing till date.
