YDA demands closure of OPDs, plans no strike

Rawalpindi : The Young Doctors Association in Punjab has not planned to go on strike in the wake of a possible outbreak of illness caused by novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) as yet instead the YDA is demanding closure of outpatient departments only to limit common patients’ activities in public sector healthcare facilities across Punjab so that the spread of COVID-19 can be checked.

So far the YDA had not decided to go on strike rather it has floated an opinion about closure of OPDs as the OPDs in teaching hospitals receive thousands of patients daily and status of almost none of the patients is known to hospitals’ staff and other patients in waiting areas, said YDA President at Benazir Bhutto Hospital Dr. Rana Azeem while talking to ‘The News’ on Wednesday.

He said in case of some confirmed patient of COVID-19 visiting OPD of a hospital, hundreds of OPD patients in waiting areas along with hospital staff would become at risk of contracting COVID-19. The chance of spread of the disease can be minimized by limiting activities of OPD patients as they do not need emergency healthcare services, he said.

Due to strong human to human transmission, a single confirmed patient of COVID-19 visiting OPD may infect the hospital and illness among hundreds of other patients, he said. The OPDs of teaching hospitals receive patients from far flung areas and interaction of confirmed patients with other patients may cause spread of the disease in every nook and corner of a town, he said.

He added that the government should strengthen emergency departments of all public sector healthcare facilities in the province and these should be made functional for receiving all new patients including the OPD patients requiring immediate management.

The OPDs at the three allied hospitals in town including Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Holy Family Hospital and District Headquarters Hospital receive well over 5500 patients at their OPDs daily on average and the staff including nurses, paramedics and doctors from almost all departments of the hospitals have not been given personal protective equipment (PPE) and the fact gives much room to spread of COVID-19.

We the doctors and other healthcare providers are at stake with a chance of acquiring disease amounting to 34 per cent but we do not bother it as after closure of OPDs, the emergency departments would be run by us. We are actually talking of making public secure, said Dr. Azeem.

It is important that many senior health officials have already suggested shutting down of OPDs to prevent and avoid spread of COVID-19 saying the hospitals should operate emergency departments only as happened during Eid holidays.

They, like Dr. Azeem are of the opinion that majority of the patients visiting OPDs of the hospitals are the persons with weak immunity system and they are more vulnerable to contract the disease and COVID-19 may prove to be more deadly for them.

The teaching hospitals are facing severe shortage of gloves, masks and other PPEs and with the limited supply of PPEs, the emergency departments can be strengthened, said Dr. Azeem.

It is important that so far no patient has been confirmed positive for COVID-19 in town and the results of three suspected patients of COVID-19 undergoing treatment at high dependency unit of BBH have turned out to be negative but the disease may hit population in this region of the country sooner or later, he said.

It is better to take decisions in time and better to opt for precautionary measures before it is too late, he said.