Delhi makes LNJP Hospital nodal centre for monkeypox, starts doctors' training
India Today
Doctors and staff at the LNJP hospital began training after Delhi reported the first monkeypox case on Sunday.
In the wake of the first case of monkeypox being reported in the national capital, the Delhi government has made Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital the nodal centre for management of the rare viral infection and has started training doctors there.
The city's government-run hospital has been the nerve centre of Delhi's fight against the Covid-19 pandemic since its outbreak here in March 2020.
"We are on alert and LNJP Hospital has been made the nodal centre for management of monkeypox cases," a senior official said, adding that there is a need to be "vigilant, but no need to panic."
"We have started training doctors and SOPs (standard operating procedures) are being laid down for the management of monkeypox, even though the experience of managing Covid-19 would surely help our team, as the wearing of PPE kits and masks and other protocols are essentially the same for this viral disease too," said Suresh Kumar, Medical Director of LNJP Hospital.
On Sunday, a 31-year-old Delhi man with no history of foreign travel tested positive for monkeypox.
The development came a day after the World Health Organization on Saturday declared the monkeypox outbreak a global health emergency.
This is the fourth confirmed case of the disease in India. Three other cases of monkeypox have been detected in Kerala.
