COVID-19 resurgence: AIIMS Delhi OPD services suspended for 14 days

In a circular issued on Tuesday, AIIMS medical superintendent Dr D.K. Sharma wrote, "In view of the need to optimise usage of available inpatient beds for hospitalization of seriously ill emergency/semi-emergency patients, it has been decided to temporarily stop routine OPD admissions to general wards as well as private wards in AIIMS Hospital and all Centres..."

The circular added that emergency patients who require in-patient hospitalization or private ward hospitalisation will continue to be admitted.

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AIIMS had suspended OPD registrations from March 23 as the number of COVID-19 cases in the country started to increase. AIIMS resumed OPD services on June 25, after a gap of three months.

The move to suspended OPD services comes after Delhi recorded over 2,000 COVID-19 cases each on Monday and Tuesday, which were the highest single-day figures in two months. COVID-19 cases in Delhi had dropped for most of August.

Delhi is sixth on the list of Indian states with most COVID-19 cases. As of Wednesday morning, Delhi has recorded over 1.77 lakh cases and 4,462 fatalities from the virus.

"The decision has been taken in view of increased admissions of non-COVID serious patients through emergency, particularly trauma emergency as the Trauma Centre has been converted into a dedicated COVID-19 facility. There has been an almost two-fold increase in emergency admissions," Sharma explained.

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