The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has designated one of its hospitals as a dedicated maternity centre, following many pregnant women testing positive for coronavirus at some point when they visited government hospitals for healthcare, a health department official said on Wednesday.
"It has come to our notice that many pregnant women (during ANC/Natal/PNC period) who are seeking healthcare at our hospitals as outpatient or inpatient report as Covid positive at some point of time," said a health official.
When a carrying woman tests positive after visiting a hospital, the civic body or the government is compelled to shut it down temporarily for sanitisation, interrupting health services.
To address this concern, the BBMP has created a dedicated maternity hospital in Wilson Garden area of the city.
"Wilson Garden hospital (24 beds) to serve as a dedicated maternity hospital in Bengaluru to successfully treat the 'mother to be' in this Covid situation," said Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey. This was also announced by Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar.
ಕೋವಿಡ್ ಪ್ರಕರಣಗಳ ಏರಿಕೆ ಹಿನ್ನಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ, ಬಿಬಿಎಂಪಿ ವ್ಯಾಪ್ತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಗರ್ಭಿಣಿ ಮಹಿಳೆಯರಿಗೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ ಸುರಕ್ಷತೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹೆರಿಗೆಗೆ ಅನುಕೂಲ ಒದಗಿಸಲು, ಓ.ಟಿ ಸೌಲಭ್ಯಗಳನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿರುವ 24 ಹಾಸಿಗೆಗಳ ವಿಲ್ಸನ್ ಗಾರ್ಡನ್ ಹೆರಿಗೆ ಆಸ್ಪತ್ರೆಯನ್ನು ಕೋವಿಡ್ ಶಂಕಿತ ಗರ್ಭಿಣಿ ಮಹಿಳೆಯರ ಚಿಕಿತ್ಸೆಗೆ ನಿಗದಿ ಮಾಡಲಾಗಿದೆ. @BSYBJP pic.twitter.com/R6QqylKgOH
— Dr Sudhakar K (@mla_sudhakar) July 9, 2020
He issued the orders on the directions he received from the civic body's Commissioner.
According to government guidelines, throat swab collection from pregnant women is happening 15 days before their expected date of delivery.
"Due to practical difficulties, either the swab collection is done late or report arrives later or the pregnant woman gets admitted at our hospital before the Covid status is known," said the official.
Though such cases are being handled by BBMP referral hospitals and maternity homes, the official said there is still a need to designate one hospital as a dedicated one for better compliance and to avoid simultaneous closure of hospitals for sanitisation.
Amid surging infections in Bengaluru, many pregnant women are seeking treatment in government or BBMP hospitals for safe confinement and delivery.
On Wednesday, Karnataka reported 2,062 COVID-19 cases, more than half of which, were reported in Bengaluru.
Overall, Bengaluru accounts for 10,103 out of the total 16,527 active cases in the state. The city has reported a surge in cases since the start of July.