ID, other hosps get Cov-period treatment infra ready for Nipah

Kolkata: The extensive health infrastructure upgrade during the Covid-19 pandemic comes in handy for hospitals in their preparedness to tackle the Nipah virus in case of a surge. While health experts said that Nipah does not have the potential to emerge as a pandemic like Covid, they stressed that surveillance and preparedness were sacrosanct.The state health department has already identified Infectious Diseases & Beliaghata General Hospital (ID&BGH) as the nodal centre for Nipah in case there is an outbreak. Ten isolation cabins, along with around 20 critical care beds, have been earmarked for the purpose.
"Facilities in these isolation cabins and CCU were used extensively for treatment of Covid patients during the multiple surges. While we can escalate the number of isolation beds and facilities, Nipah does not have the potential to become a pandemic and hence we see no reason to do so for now," said a state health official.Sources said that even as doctors in this state's nodal hospital for infectious diseases were trained and experienced, as they were used to dealing with various contagious diseases, including Covid and swine flu, a special team was being kept ready to handle Nipah cases.Even as the govt did not issue any particular guideline for hospitals, health facilities across govt and private sectors said they were closely monitoring the development and keeping their infrastructure ready. "The Covid experience gave us the edge on isolation facilities and infection control protocol. Therefore, we can utilise those facilities in case the need arises," said Peerless Hospital CEO Sudipta Mitra.Sombrata Ray, unit head, CK Birla Hospitals, CMRI, said: "We are fully prepared to manage Nipah virus cases with our state-of-the-art isolation protocols. We are in constant coordination with the state health authorities and are ready to support the National Joint Outbreak Response Team during this Nipah alert."Some hospitals have already started conducting internal meetings on isolation, treatment and preventive protocol. "We are ready with our isolation and treatment protocol in case we get any suspect or confirmed cases. We also ran a check on our PPE stock and other preventive devices, as healthcare workers also need such measures while providing treatment. We will also be working in close liaison with the state govt if the need arises," said infectious diseases specialist Sayan Chakraborty of Manipal Hospitals, Dhakuria.Hospitals were also planning for stricter vigilance in their fever clinics for patients with flu-like symptoms, as manifestation of Nipah in the initial stage is like that of the common flu."We are alert and keeping a close watch on the situation. We are monitoring fever cases in our fever clinic and suspected cases are being referred to ID Hospital or the School of Tropical Medicine," said MS Purkait, medical superintendent, Techno India DAMA Hospital.(With inputs from Prithvijit Mitra)