“I congratulate you all for managing and keeping the situation under control in our fight against COVID-19, but we should not neglect the emergency and other patients in these testing times, said Dr. Harsh Vardhan as he chaired a Video Conference (VC) with Lt. Governor Delhi, Health Minister of Delhi, Medical Superintendents(MSs) of major Central and State Government Hospitals and Municipal Commissioners of Delhi.

Dr Harsh Vardhan stated that  “I am receiving a lot of complaints through calls, social media, twitter and print media, regarding denial of treatment to patients suffering from critical ailments other then COVID-19 such as patients requiring dialysis, suffering from respiratory or heart disease, those who require blood transfusion and pregnant mothers.”  “We need to take a serious view against this denial of treatment to patients who have been visiting hospitals in case of emergency and are being forced to visit a number of hospitals, one after another resulting in denial of immediate medical attention which may result in loss of their lives. “ he said. He instructed all the MSs of the hospitals to take proper care of non-COVID patients just like the COVID-19 patients. It is a testing time for everybody in lockdown; patients who are really ill and require urgent medical attention are venturing out with great difficulty to reach the hospital for treatment in this situation. We should not turn them away on any kind of flimsy pretexts as certain procedures like blood transfusion, dialysis etc can’t wait.

He added “We have dedicated COVID-19 facilities in hospitals like  AIIMS and Safdarjung, and two dedicated COVID Delhi Government hospitals - LNJP and Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality  Hospital  in the city ; the rest of the hospitals are supposed to take care of non- COVID patients who have been visiting hospitals with a hope of getting due treatment.

He stated, “Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has also issued a detailed guideline on enabling delivery of essential health care services to meet the unprecedented demand on the current healthcare system during this outbreak. Such patients may also be provided services related to tele-consultation, digital prescription and home delivery of medicines.

He  urged them to respond to these patients with compassion and care as they are already going through severe hardships during lockdown. He said,
“We need pre-emptive, proactive, and effective measures to treat all the needy patients including those from vulnerable sections.”

He further exhorted them to keep sufficient blood stock for transfusion by promoting voluntary blood donors and utilising various services like mobile blood collection vans with the help of Indian Red Cross Society. In addition to this Union Minister asked the Indian Red Cross Society to send such mobile blood collection vans to the premises of regular blood donors to facilitate them to come forward for blood donation which is a noble deed at this point of time.

The VC was attended by Special Secretary Sanjeeva Kumar, Additional Secretary Vandana Gurnani , Joint Secretary Gayatri Mishra, Director General Of Health Services, Dr Rajiv Garg and Medical Superintendents of  RML hospital and other.

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MV/MR