Gurgaon: Private hospitals in the city have been allowed to restart out-patient department (OPD) services from Thursday as the number of critical Covid-19 cases has gone down.
They can resume elective surgeries from June 22.
The move comes as a relief for non-Covid patients, who have been suffering in the absence of treatment for months.
Most hospitals had put elective surgeries, such as knee replacement, gallbladder removal and cataract, on hold for the past two months.
“All hospitals are directed to start healthcare services from June 10 and they can start their elective surgeries from June 22.
Hospitals should have dedicated Covid centres and flu clinics.
They should have separate entries and exits for non-Covid patients.
They should also update data regarding bed occupancy, patient details, major surgeries and referrals to the health department,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, Gurgaon.
The move has been made possible by the fact that despite Gurgaon’s Covid caseload crossing 1,80,376, there were just 642 active cases on Tuesday.
Of those, only 55 patients are currently admitted in the city’s 42 hospitals, of which 25 are in ICUs.
There are 5,658 beds in these hospitals, of which 2,829 were reserved for Covid patients.
Observing the low hospitalisation rate, the district administration reduced the existing 75% reservation of ICU and ventilator Covid beds to 50% on Tuesday.
For Covid ward beds, reservation has been reduced from 50% to 30%.
The health department has also directed hospitals in the city to create daycare centres for mucormycosis (black fungus) patients.
In these centres, patients who don’t require hospitalisation will be given amphotericin B.
“We have asked hospitals treating mucormycosis cases to create a daycare facility with a price cap.
NABH-accredited hospitals will be able to charge Rs 2,000 for the service, while hospitals with non-NABH will be able to charge Rs 1,500.
This will include both the cost of injection and hospital bed,” said Dr Yadav.