BMC finally takes first step to curb Ebola scare

BMC finally takes first step to curb Ebola scare

FPJ BureauUpdated: Saturday, June 01, 2019, 09:43 AM IST
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But doctors at the isolation cell are clueless about the step to take owing to lack of briefing or concrete directions from health authorities

Mumbai : Two days after the WHO declared the ebola outbreak an international health emergency, the BMC is putting up an isolation cell.

While the civic body has set up an exclusive medicine ward at the BMC-run  Hinduhridayasamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Trauma Care Hospital located on the Western Express Highway in Jogeshwari, the doctors, including those designated to man the ward remain clueless about the measures they are supposed to take owing to the lack of any briefing and concrete directions from the BMC’s Health Department.

Two Free Press Journal reporters visited the hospital on Saturday and Sunday and found that the isolation ward which is located on the Hospital’s 10th floor will have a total capacity of 30 beds and will be a general medicine ward which will remain quarantined.

According to hospital officials, a contingent of doctors, experts and BMC officials will conduct a training session for the workforce at the Jogeshwari Hospital on Monday on how to handle Ebola cases. “Apart from the training session, the officials are also expected to inspect the preparations and the facilities available and will direct us on what needs to be done. The capacity of the ward is also expected to be increased,” informed Dr Devendra, a Senior Medical Officer at the Jogeshwari Hospital.

The hospital has a total workforce of 30-35 doctors per shift and since it is the only major BMC-run hospital in the vicinity of the airport, any person showing symptoms of the disease will be brought here, informed officials at the hospital. “There is no lack of infrastructure or facilities at this hospital and apart from medical staff, it also has Lab facilities for testing. For now our priority will be containment,” informed the  SMO.

The officials hinted that the civic body may also plan a dedicated ICU ambulance service from the airport apart from the available fleet of 108 ambulances.

The municipal corporation had on Friday declared a set of measures they will be undertaking for tackling the disease, which has so far claimed more than 900 lives in West Africa. These include screening of patients at the airport, transporting patients with primary symptoms to Jogeshwari Trauma Care Centre and later to Kasturba Hospital, depending on the seriousness of the infection.

According to the hospital’s deputy medical superintendent Dr Nagarkar “We have created a team of four doctors, nurses and wardboys that will be responsible for tackling this disease, if at all a patient is admitted. We are awaiting further orders from the BMC now”.

BMC’s half measures hint that the civic body is waiting for an ebola case to come up to spring into action. However, with the hemorrhagic disease carrying common symptoms including fever, diarrhoea and bleeding, the 30 bed ward may be hardly adequate for screening and containment, according to experts.

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