A coronavirus-positive test report is no longer mandatory for hospital admission in Telangana, state health authorities announced on Thursday, May 20. The Director of Public Health and Family Welfare issued an order for the implementation of the national policy for admission to hospitals, according to which no patient will be denied admission based on their coronavirus test result. Hospitals in Telangana will now have to admit even those patients who are suspected to be coronavirus-positive. "Requirement of a positive test for the coronavirus is not mandatory for admission into a health facility," the order reads. Patients who are suspected to have COVID-19 are to be admitted into a separate ward and treatment must be given without any preconditions.
The order is significant as several hospitals in Hyderabad were found to be turning away patients for not having coronavirus-positive reports. "No patient will be refused services on any count. This includes medications such as oxygen or essential drugs even if the patient belongs to a different city," the order stated. "No patient shall be refused admission on the ground that he/she is not able to produce any valid identity card that does not belong to the city where the hospital is located," it further added. The order also makes it clear that admission into hospitals must be based on need. "It should be ensured that beds are not occupied by persons who do not need hospitalisation. Further, the discharge should be strictly in accordance with the revised discharge policy," it added.
The Telangana government also declared Mucormycosis or the ‘black fungus’, which is being observed across the country as a post-COVID-19 complication, as a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897. All government and private health facilities must mandatorily report all suspected and confirmed cases of Mucormycosis to the state Health Department.