The government health centre in Action Area 1D, New Town, has identified a triage room where patients showing symptoms of Covid-19 will be segregated and attended to.

Drawing its root from the French word trier, meaning to sort, triage is the process of grouping patients based on the severity of their condition and need for medical treatment.

“We want to start triage at our health centre,” declared Hidco and NKDA chief Debashis Sen at the end of an awareness programme on novel coronavirus on Sunday.

Deputy chief medical officer of health, North 24-Parganas, Suparna Chattopadhyay explained the concept. “In triage, we segregate the patients at source. In the queue for an outpatient department, there would be patients of all kinds. Do not let patients with influenza-like illnesses stand in the queue. Those with fever and cough should be isolated in a separate room. When the doctor visits them, he should wear with mask and gloves,” she explained.

District health officials have instructed all district hospitals and subdivisional hospitals to set up triage facility.

Two rooms have been identified in the outpatient department and in the emergency section of Bidhannagar Subdivisional Hospital as well.

From Thursday, a dedicated staff member will be deployed to keep an eye on the patients in the outdoor ticket queue for faster isolation in the triage room, hospital sources said on Wednesday.

“While passengers with symptoms are being sent from the airport to the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Beleghata, we are sending contact lists of passengers from countries with high Covid-19 transmission to all the municipalities as well as NKDA so that those who have been advised home isolation or quarantine can be tracked,” Chattopadhyay added.