Isolation wards with about 20 beds have been created at Siddharth Hospital, Goregaon, and MT Agarwal Hospital, Mulund.
The BMC On Saturday announced that the five new centres for testing and screening influenza H1N1, would be operational from Sunday, as opposed to the earlier plans of opening them to a panic-stricken public only from Sunday.
Isolation wards with about 20 beds have been created at Siddharth Hospital, Goregaon, and MT Agarwal Hospital, Mulund. Twenty-bedded isolation wards have also been prepared at JJ, GT and St George Hospitals and are now functional. “However, there are no plans to rope in private hospitals yet,” said Bhushan Gagrani, secretary, medical education.
On Saturday, the usually-deserted MT Agarwal Hospital wore a busy look. “We are still making arrangements. We hope to be fully prepared by Monday,” a doctor said. Medicines and equipment will need to be arranged, as this hospital usually does not see much patient traffic, a source added. A few patients who turned up for testing on Saturday had to be turned away. “I was too weak to travel all the way to Kasturba, so I came here,” Bhandup resident Gajanan Ahir, 32, who had travelled to Pune a fortnight ago, said. “Doctors enquired about my symptoms and asked me to come back on Monday.”
Siddharth Hospital in Goregaon (W) was functioning within a day of being designated a screening and treatment centre. The 20-bed isolation ward was being sanitised, and lights and fans installed.
Even though the centre was supposed to officially start operating from Monday, patients streamed in from Saturday. “About 15 people have come for screening since morning, and we have also collected three throat samples and sent them to Kasturba,” superintendent RR Tripathi said.
Bhabha Hospital (Bandra), Bhagwati Hospital (Borivli) and Rajawadi Hospital (Ghatkopar) will act as screening and collection centres. At Rajawadi, preparations were on in full swing. The out-patient department (OPD) on the ground floor was being painted, furniture and stocks of medicines and testing equipment arranged. “A special H1N1 clinic will be functional by 8am Monday,” said hospital medical superintendent Ashok Khankal. According to the World Health Organisation, the H1N1 pandemic is in Phase 6, which implies that inter-human transmission is well established in most countries, including India. The spread is now inevitable and likely to be difficult to control. This is all the more reason for increasing screening, creating isolation centres and mobilising staff, a civic official said.
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