After many employees tested positive for COVID-19, Vijaya Hospital in Vadapalani here has decided to suspend patient care services with immediate effect. The hospital will be subjected to disinfection and other infection-control measures as per government guidelines, the managing trustee & chief executive officer wrote to all doctors and staff on Friday.
The CEO said that all types of admissions, including emergencies, would be temporarily stopped in Vijaya Group of Hospitals (Vijaya Hospital and Vijaya Health Centre). Any type of emergency coming to the Vijaya Health Centre (VHC) casualty would be referred to other hospitals after stabilisation without much inconvenience to the patients. However, employees working in Vijaya Medical & Educational Trust seeking admission for COVID-19 related illness would be admitted.
“All in-patients admitted in the Vijaya Hospital would be transferred to relevant areas in VHC. The out-patient services will function in VHC for all consultants with alternate day consultation… These are very challenging times, but I am confident that with your co-operation we can sail through this crisis,” the official said.
Vijaya Hospital is the first major healthcare facility in Chennai that has suspended services due to the spread of COVID-19 among staff.
In a few other hospitals in the city, doctors, nurses and para-medical staff who reported COVID-19 related symptoms or illness were advised to quarantine themselves after going through the standard operating procedure as prescribed by the Indian Council of Medical Research.
Sources in the Health Department said the hospital would resume full-fledged services in about a week or 10 days after complete disinfection and sanitation.
A few doctors in nearby hospitals also quoted senior consultants in the Vijaya Group of Hospitals as saying that the patient care services would resume in a few days.
