Bhubaneswar: The state government has now allowed Kar Clinic in the state capital to offer emergency services to the patients, days after it asked the people in Odisha to refrain from visiting the clinic after the news of third COVID-19 patient came into light.
The government had urged people not to visit the private clinic citing the visit of the third COVID-19 patient from the state who had visited the clinic for consultation and was also admitted to the clinic for his health issues.
Days after the embargo, the state government told the public, Sunday, that the hospital premise has now been sanitized and that the public can now visit the hospital for availing emergency health services like dialysis.
The Health and Family Welfare Department of the state government Sunday said, “Kar Clinic, Bhubaneswar , has been sanitized and advised to provide emergency continuum care such as dialysis.”
It also added, “However the care providers who had come in contact with the third COVID positive case need to be in isolation and the Standard Operating Protocol issued by State Directorate of Health Services be followed.
The government had earlier told the public that the ailing third COVID patient had visited the private clinic in the state in the Outdoor Patient Department (OPD) on March 21. He was later admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the clinic on March 23 and was discharged on March 24.
While the private clinic denied any flouting of norms, the state government issued a public advisory and asked people not visit the private clinic. Many private clinics and doctors were unhappy with the government for naming and shaming private doctors and clinics in the light of the third COVID case.
While the private clinic has welcomed the move, the private practitioners are unhappy with the move of naming the clinic. In social media debates, some doctors had questioned why the government did not ask persons in the state not to visit the government-run All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar when violations of guidelines as reported by junior doctors were reported from the premier hospital.
