RT-PCR mandatory upon non-Covid patients seeking admission in city hospitals

Aurangabad, Aug 24:

Acting upon the alert by the state government in the wake of the third wave of Coronavirus, the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has made it mandatory upon non-Covid patients, to conduct RT-PCR tests, prior to the admission in either government or private hospitals in the jurisdiction of the city.

The municipal officer of health (MoH) Dr Neeta Padalkar said," We have deployed our three teams to conduct RT-PCR tests upon new patients seeking admission at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH). There is one team in each shift and the teams are working in three-shifts. These teams survey all the wards in GMCH to conduct the RT-PCR test. Besides, the private hospitals have also been alerted to conduct RT-PCR test of non-Covid patients getting admitted in their establishments."

32 RT-PCR by private paediatricians

The children of age less than 18 years are on target of the civic health team considering the possibility of a third wave.

Padalkar added, " We had alerted all our primary health centres through a circular to make it mandatory upon private children's hospitals in their respective jurisdiction to conduct the RT-PCR tests of every patient seeking admission for the treatment. We had distributed 50 RT-PCR kits to each PHC, which was further supplied to the private hospitals (free of cost). So far, we received 32 samples from the private hospitals and none of them had tested Covid positive."

Fever Clinics detect 28 Covid patients

The functioning of Fever Clinics has been intensified in the wake of the third wave. One fever clinic comprises one doctor, one nurse and one health assistant. The focus of each clinic is on visiting high-risk areas or slums. They are mobile and set up the clinic like the tax collection camp in the targetted areas. In past, one month, around 20 fever clinics checked 6,440 persons, conducted RT-PCR tests of 676 persons and detected 25 Covid patients. The team also conducted 408 antigen tests and detected three Covid patients.

Nine dengue patients detected

The AMC team till August 23, has tested 71 suspects out of which nine patients were detected as Dengue positive. In July, there were 47 suspects, but not a single Dengue positive was detected, said Dr Padalkar.