Everyone need not wear PPE, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan tells doctors

New Delhi: Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Sunday visited AIIMS'' dedicated Centre for COVID19 in Haryana's Jhajjar. The Minister spoke to the medical staff and took stock of preparedness over COVID-19.

"Don''t compromise on protection in the quarantine centre. However, everyone need not use PPE (personal protective equipment)," Vardhan told doctors.

"AIIMS has enough PPE material. Every thing has a guideline. Everyone should not use PPE. When we work in hospitals as a routine, not everyone uses PPE," said the Minister.

The dedicated block for treatment of COVID in Jhajjar has been set up on the fifth floor of the hospital block which was for cancer patients earlier. The cancer patients are now admitted on the ground floor and on the fifth floor, COVID patients are admitted.

It has 40 normal beds and 25 ICU beds. Only 7 patients are currently admitted in this block and none of them is in ICU or ventilator, all of them in ward, the doctors told Vardhan. The hospital has the capacity of 300 patients of which only 50 per cent capacity has been utilised so far.

The medical staff also informed the Health Minister that 162 patients admitted in the hospital are stable. They told him that only one casualty has been reported since the centre was operational. The person was among the Nizamuddin Markaz group and had comorbidity.

The doctors informed the minister that 28 people from Tablighi Jamaat connection have tested negative. The Minister asked the doctors to keep them quarantined for 14 days and repeat the test as per the protocol. "There is no question of discharging them who have come from particular contact history," said the minister.

The doctors also told the Minister that there is communication problem with NizamuddiN Markaz people as they dont know English or Hindi, a few of them are from Malaysia and Thailand.