IGMCRI to entirely focus on non-Covid services

Designated Covid hospital discharges last coronavirus patient

Amid a steady decline in new coronavirus cases and a marked improvement in vaccination coverage, the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute (IGMCRI) on Monday formally ended what has been a lynchpin role as a designated COVID-19 hospital since the pandemic outbreak early last year. The institution, which discharged its last remaining coronavirus patient, will henceforth entirely focus on non-Covid services.

The IGMCRI will now function in a full-fledged manner for non-Covid patients, whose access to regular care had been cut back through well over a year in order to accommodate fluctuating loads of coronavirus cases, and also revive from near total disruption the access of MBBS students to medical education facilities.

The IGMCRI, along with Jipmer, had been the fulcrum of the administration’s round-the-clock toil to turn around the tide in pandemic management and significantly bring down both the mortality and morbidity related to COVID-19. However, at the same time, even after the IGMCRI gradually resumed badly-affected non-Covid services after the pandemic situation improved, it was found that regular patients were hesitant to make a hospital visit for fear of contracting an infection, a health official said.