The fear of spreading the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) along with lack of protective gear has prevented the private clinics and small hospitals from seeing the patients.
With most of the Government hospitals concentrating on treating the suspected patients and patients of the COVID-19, the State Government had requested the private hospitals to open their Out Patients Departments (OPD).
The Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat himself met the representatives of many private hospitals and office bearers of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and appealed that the OPDs of private hospitals should start functioning.
The decision was taken with an objective of ensuring that people don’t face problem in getting treatment.
However barring big private hospitals none of the hospitals and clinics are treating patients due to which general public is facing problem. In the bigger hospitals like Mahant Indiresh, Kailash and CMI the OPDs are open.
Here precautions like maintaining social distancing, applying sanitizers and thermal screening are being taken in the OPD.
When contacted Dr Vipul Kandwal of Arogyadham hospital accepted that the hospital has not opened the general OPD yet. “We are keeping the emergency of the hospital open. Opening OPDs in all private hospitals would defeat the actual purpose of the lockdown,’’ he said.
The general secretary of the Uttarakhand Chapter of IMA, Dr DD Chaudhury said that personal protective equipment (PPE) and N-95 masks are not available in market and under such circumstances the small hospitals and clinics cannot take the chance of opening the OPD.
“We are ready to purchase the PPE and N-95 masks if the government provides us.
The N-95 masks are not available in market and wherever they are, the shopkeepers are demanding prices which are four times high,’’ he said. More than 2400 doctors are the members of the Uttarakhand chapter of IMA. In Dehradun alone there are more than 175 clinics and small hospitals.