Docs' body flays move to transfer COVID-19 patients from Chandigarh hospitals to PGIMER

A doctors' body at the Chandigarh's PGIMER has criticised the UT administration's decision of shifting all coronavirus patients from various government facilities to the institute, saying such a move is "fraught with risk".

The Association of Resident Doctors at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) said the transfer of the patients to the Nehru Hospital Extension Centre will endanger lives of those involved in the shifting process.

"We believe the hurdles involved in the transfer of these patients will endanger lives of all those involved in transportation," Dr Uttam Thakur, president of the association said in a statement.

According to a Chandigarh administration order, all three hospitals in the government sectorPGIMER, GMCH-32 and the GMSH-16--will continue to screen patients, take their samples and keep them in their isolation wards till the receipt of results.

The person found infected with the virus will be shifted to Nehru Hospital Extension Centre in the PGIMER.

Thakur said currently patients are being effectively isolated at all three tertiary care government facilities in Chandigarh.

The isolation facilities at none of these centres stand overwhelmed, he added.

Once the limited number of beds in the PGIMER facility are occupied by stable, non-oxygen requiring patients on account of mass transfer, there will be a paucity of beds and manpower for the management of the sick patients being referred from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and other northern states, he said.

"We would like to propose that patients be referred from other hospitals only if they require ventilatory support, if the same is not available at the other tertiary care facilities. This will allow an optimum utilisation of the dedicated COVID hospital at the PGIMER," he said.