Hyderabad: Health Minister, Etela Rajender on Friday night visited Gandhi Hospital, the ground-zero of the fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Telangana.
The Minister interacted with the first COVID-19 positive patient who is in isolation ward and assured that he would soon recover fully and get discharged.
The visit to Gandhi Hospital was a confidence building measure aimed at giving assurance to suspected COVID-19 patients and also general patients who are admitted with other ailments across the hospital’s seven floors.
For over two hours, the Minister interacted with the health care workers, including senior doctors, nursing staff, paramedics, sanitation workers and class IV employees who are involved in handling the special isolation wards set-aside for suspected COVID-19 patients. He acknowledged and appreciated the hard work of the health care workers at Gandhi Hospital.
“Videos posted across social media platforms on the impact of coronavirus on people in China have scared people. If we continue to work together, understand COVID-19 better and keep taking precautions, we can definitely contain COVID-19 in its tracks,” he said.
Rajender instructed the senior doctors from the hospital to ensure that general public, relatives and others do not venture into the isolation wards, meant for suspected 2019-nCoV cases.
He directed sanitation staff to ensure lifts, chairs and other furniture, which are frequently touched by visitors, to be cleaned hourly to prevent hospital-borne infections.
“I want to assure people that the State government is taking all possible measures to neutralise the threat of COVID-19. Individuals, however, must continue to take basic precautions,” he said.