The Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan today visited Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre (JPNATC) of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi to take stock of their preparedness to overcome COVID-19 as well as witness first-hand the treatment and assistance being offered to COVID-19 patients in the Dedicated COVID Hospital.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan stated that “AIIMS JPNATC is functioning as a dedicated COVID-19 hospital consisting of 250-bed isolation wards which is ensuring prompt care for COVID-19 confirmed patients who are in isolation and require advanced medical support.” “Also the Burn & Plastic Surgery Block of AIIMS JPNATC is being turned into a Screening and Triage area for housing COVID Suspect patients”, he informed. During the visit, he visited the Emergency ward, Doffing area, Private ward, ICU, HDU, SARI ward, and ILI ward in this state-of-the-art building. He also inspected the sanitation being maintained in the washrooms of the hospital.

While in the hospital, the Minister interacted with few COVID-19 affected patients over the mobile phone through video calling, with the latter, being assisted by Robots at their end, and enquired about their well being. He also sought their feedback about the facilities available in AIIMS, so that necessary improvements can be made.

After a detailed review and inspection of the various wards and facilities of the Hospital, Dr. Harsh Vardhan expressed satisfaction with the working of the Dedicated COVID Hospital. He also appreciated AIIMS JPNATC for ensuring 24 hrs monitoring of the wellbeing of COVID-19 confirmed and suspected patients. He said, “I am happy to see that AIIMS is using the latest digital technologies to monitor the health parameters of COVID patients, 24 hrs”. He added, “In last few days, I have been visiting various Dedicated COVID Hospitals and facilities such as in AIIMS Jhajjar, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital (LNJPNH), Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RML), Safdarjung Hospital (SJH), Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital and now AIIMS-JPNATC, Delhi to review the preparedness of COVID-19.”

Speaking about the situation of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, Minister apprised that as of now the Mortality/Death rate of COVID patients in India is 3.1%, compared to 7% at the global level. Moreover, 5,913 people have been cured to date resulting in a recovery rate of around 22%, which is also comparatively better than most of the countries. “The doubling rate of the country has been showing regular improvement and stands at 10.5 days when seen over a period of 3 days, 9.3 days over a period of 7 days and 8.1 days over a period of 14 days. These indicators may be taken as positive effects of the Lockdown in the country along with the cluster management and containment strategies.”, he said.