From storing portable air filters to realigning hospital beds as per the Nightingale ward system and actualizing epidemic SOPs surveyed by a microbiologist, Goa became a part of a process to breathing life into a COVID-19 medical hospital.

On April 19, when the last patient was discharged from the ESI facilities, surprise drills and careful planning have been keeping the medical experts and attendants busy as they prepare for a new surge of patients.

As per Dr. Ira Almeida, a clinical administrator of the Hospicio medical hospital in Margao reviews a calamity drill on March 22, the day of Janta Curfew. Yet, this drill was unique. “It was explicit… it was for an approaching pandemic,” she says.

Inside Goa’s ESI facility, a daily briefing is conducted o prepare for the pandemic. Each strategy is rehashed, reminding health professionals to sanitize at every step, from taking samples for testing to treating Covid-19 patients. What’s more, prepare to take care of kids who are tested positive for Covid-19 or newborn babies.

As per doctors, the primary detail that they understood from different nations was the spread of the virus was from droplets and they decided to shut down centralized ac as that was the data that they had in the initial coronavirus days. Dr. Almeida says that after the SARS outbreak they acquired portable standing HEPA filters have now been ferried from New Delhi.

As the news of the reopening of the economy, we have decided to have two ICUs, one pediatric and one for Covid pediatric ICU,” Almeida included. A hundred beds were counted and divided between four floors, following the Nightingale ward system — where the British attendant contrived a direct plan to treat officers during the Crimean War, with a meter’s separation between the beds.

The whole month has gone in culminating a protocol where an area of 120 square feet is disinfected with a mop. “There are various shifts for several surfaces and a team guarantees stringent inspection,” Almeida added.

Each ward has a room at the entrance for changing PPE, life shields for clinical specialists to prepare before attending patients. “These measures boost the confidence of doctors and nurses and they also feel protected, says Almeida.

Article Credit: The Indian Express