Creating “non-Covid” wings for patients not infected by the coronavirus, shifting a patient who has tested positive for the disease to another unit — private hospitals in Calcutta are tweaking their segregation policies because many people are avoiding visiting hospitals.

The footfall of patients at most private hospitals has not gone up much even after the lockdown was eased because many people do not want to get admitted where Covid-19 patients are being treated.

Most private hospitals, which are not designated as Covid-19 hospitals, have separate wings for patients infected with the virus.

But now, officials of several private hospitals said they have changed their segregation policy, creating wings for non-Covid patients which are completely segregated from the rest of the facility.

AMRI Hospitals has decided to shift any patient testing positive for Covid-19 at its Dhakuria hospital to its Salt Lake unit.

“The Dhakuria unit had three zones — green for patients who tested negative for Covid-19, red for those who tested positive and orange for people who were awaiting test results. Now, there is no red zone,” said Rupak Barua, group CEO, AMRI Hospitals. “Those who are testing positive at the Dhakuria hospital are being transferred to our Salt Lake unit.”

Patients who test positive and need to undergo surgery are kept in a separate area, said Barua. The Covid-positive patients whose surgery can be postponed are being asked to come back to the hospital after they are cured of the viral infection.

Peerless Hospital on Wednesday created a wing with 23 single-bed cabins for Covid-negative patients who have been admitted for treatment of other ailments.

“The entrance to the wing and the elevator used to ferry patients to this ward are separate from other parts of the hospital. Even the nurses attending to these patients are dedicated for this wing only. The movements are restricted,” said Sudipta Mitra, chief executive of Peerless Hospital.

“Many patients and their relatives are calling us to ask how far is the Covid ward from the area where non-Covid patients are kept. These single-bed rooms are created to allay such fears. Those who can pay a higher tariff and are afraid of coming to hospital can take admission.”

There are other hospitals which are creating holding areas for patients.

At the RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences in Mukundapur, the authorities have created a holding area on a dedicated floor comprising several rooms. Each room has two to three patients awaiting test results before getting admitted.

“Most tests are done at the outpatient department but for people who need emergency admission because they are suffering from respiratory distress or stomach ache, are now kept in the holding area. The results are coming on the same day and by afternoon, all patients in a room are shifted either to the Covid or non-Covid wards, which are in separate buildings,” said R. Venkatesh, regional director, east, Narayana Health, of which the Mukundapur hospital is a flagship unit.

Once the patients are shifted, the rooms are being fumigated, he said. If the flow of patients increase, the holding area will have more rooms.

“The fear among patients would continue for another couple of months. Hospitals that don’t have multiple units or separate wings will suffer more because of the fear,” said Alok Roy, chairman, Medica Superspecialty Hospital.