Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:
(a) the details of measures taken for smooth functioning of hospitals in providing maternal healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic;
(b) whether any complaints were registered against private hospitals in this regard during the COVID-19 pandemic;
(c) if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise; and
(d) the corrective steps taken by the Government in this regard?
ANSWER
(a) to (d): ‘Public health’ and ‘Hospitals’ being state subjects, no such information is maintained centrally.
However, as far as three Central Government Hospitals namely Safdarjung, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, Lady Hardinge Medical College & Associated Hospitals as well as All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at New Delhi, Patna and Bhubaneswar are concerned, the following measures were taken for smooth functioning of hospitals in providing maternal healthcare services during COVID-19 pandemic:
• Separate dedicated facility in the hospitals formed to provide round the clock ante-natal care, labor and delivery/Operation Theatre, Intensive Care Unit for COVID-19 positive ante-natal women etc.
• Separate ward identified for keeping suspect Obstetrics & Gynaecology identified patients in the non-COVID area.
• Continuous emergency care services being provided to all non-covid patients attending the hospitals, including for delivery and Lower segment Cesarian section (LSCS) cases.
• Reverse transcription Polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing conducted on all suspected patients initially, followed by Antenatal care (ANC) for women coming to hospital for labour and delivery.
• Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) conducted in critical areas of the department for all suspect patients.
• All patients and their relatives asked to follow COVID appropriate behaviour including wearing Mask/sanitizing hands/social distancing.
• All above services including COVID sampling and reporting, contact tracing of patients at facility and of Health Care Workers in the department, training and management of health care workers, coordinating and data upkeep, for all suspects and SARS COV2 positive patients done by a separate nodal officer for the department amongst the faculty, under direct supervision of Head of Department.