Coronavirus: AIIMS to convert trauma centre into COVID-19 hospital

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has decided to convert its trauma centre building into a dedicated COVID-19 hospital. Preparations to convert the facility that mostly provides treatment to victims of road accidents into a COVID-19 treatment centre are underway.

The hospital will have 260 beds initially. The Trauma Centre has 242 beds as of now and 12 more beds are being added, according to PTI. An offical announcement from the AIIMS administration in this regard is likely to come soon.

"Most of the patients have already been shifted to multiple wards at the main AIIMS hospital," an official told PTI.  Of the total beds, there are approximately 50 ICU beds and around 30-40 in high dependency unit. It has 70 ventilators at present. The capacity is likely to be increased, depending on the requirement.

AIIMS has already shut its OPD, including speciality services. New patient registrations and follow up visits had also been suspended . The hospital has also postponed non-essential elective procedures and surgeries. The administration has directed that only life saving emergency surgeries are carried out. AIIMS has set up a task force to develop a management protocol for COVID-19.

(Edited with PTI inputs)

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Also read: AIIMS sets up task force to develop COVID-19 management protocol