Private hospitals are planning to restore normality in a phased manner following a state government directive but most healthcare units said reluctance of a section of doctors and others to resume work and social distancing norms would stand in the way of full-fledged operations.
The state health department on Friday issued a directive asking private hospitals to “undertake a plan for time bound resumption/normalisation of services...” This was in continuation to a similar order issued on April 27.
State health department officials said resumption of services must include outpatient department and day-care services.
Metro had earlier reported how thousands of people in need of consultations and medical examinations had been left in the lurch by the lockdown.
A health department official said they had received reports of patients in need of dialysis, blood transfusion and chemotherapy facing hardships as most OPDs were not functional.
A section of doctors is keen to resume duty.
“But many elderly doctors, in their 60s or even older, are concerned about their safety and reluctant to come to the hospital. Other employees are reluctant, too. So, technically we might run all OPDs but several doctors might not be there at least for a few weeks,” said the CEO of a private hospital.
Most hospitals are expecting 25 to 30 per cent less patients than what they would get before the lockdown was imposed.
One official of a private hospital said they had arrangements to accommodate 50 per cent of their total OPD capacity of 1,000 patients. But they are expecting even fewer patients because of the lockdown and absence of doctors.
Despite such apprehensions, most hospitals are preparing to augment their services and indoor admissions.
Many of them have created infrastructure that will allow them to restrict patients at various levels to ensure social distancing. Also, they are procuring additional personal protective equipment for doctors, nurses and OPD personnel.
Some of the doctors said they were also planning to start seeing patients on a regular basis.
“During the lockdown, emergency cancer surgeries were being done as and when required. Presently, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, has advised surgeons to perform elective surgeries, especially the potentially curable cases. Palliative procedures for advanced cancer can still wait for some time. OPD consultations also need to be started to effectively communicate with all cancer patients to alleviate their fear,” said surgical oncologist Gautam Mukhopadhyay.
However, many doctors said they were not planning to open private clinics because most of these facilities did not have enough space to ensure social distancing. Also, procuring PPE is still a problem, they said.