AIIMS JPNATC to resume trauma services partially; Covid care to continue on designated floors

AIIMS Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre in Delhi will resume the trauma services partially from August end onwards, institute director Randeep Guleria announced today.

Considering the decline in cases of coronavirus and increased demand for non-Covid care, including trauma, a decision has been taken to operationalise the trauma centre partially, he told news agency PTI.

Some designated wards or floors will continue to be used for Covid care, the director said, adding that the trauma emergency for the time being will be run from the main AIIMS hospital only.

"In addition, this is being done in a manner that in case there is a surge in cases, the trauma centre can again quickly be converted into a dedicated COVID-19 facility as was done during the first and second wave.

"From Friday onwards, a trial will be done and it will be functional from August 31," he said.

The move comes after a meeting on the coronavirus situation was held on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Guleria. It was decided to operationalise the trauma wards, ICU, OTS and radiology services for trauma care (non-Covid) by the coming weekend.

Both Covid and non-Covid services will be run from the trauma centre.

"The trauma emergency for the time being will be run from the main hospital and all emergency operations will be done in the main hospital. Relatively stable patients will be admitted in the trauma centre and elective surgeries/surgeries on such patients will be done at the Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre (JPNATC)," according to a circular issued by Trauma Centre chief Rajesh Malhotra.

There will be no direct admissions at JPNATC. The X-ray and ultrasonography (USG) for COVID-19 patients will be done using portable machines, while the first floor CT room will be used for such patients, it said.

Only elective/relatively stable patients will be operated from 8:30 am to 5 pm in operation theatres (OTs).

"All departments are advised to prepare their respective area and make it functional by August 27. They are also advised to rationally redistribute instrument sets and trained manpower between main AIIMS and JPNATC to ensure services are run smoothly.

"They can transfer the patients from August 28 such that the first OT case can be taken on Tuesday (August 31),” the circular added.

Meanwhile, India registered 37,593 fresh cases of coronavirus in a span of 24 hours with Kerala contributing to a majority of 24,296 new infections. According to the Union Health Ministry, 648 new fatalities pushed the cumulative toll to 4,35,758.

The total caseload in India touched 3,25,12,366 including 3,22,327 active Covid-19 cases. Active cases now account for less than 1% of the total infections and is currently at 0.99%. Cumulative recoveries rose to 3,17,54,281 after 34,169 fresh recoveries in a day. With this, the recovery rate has gone up to 97.67%.