Regular patients urged not to crowd hospitals

SALALAH: This is in the best interest of community and humanity that the people come out voluntarily for isolation and self-quarantine if they have any doubt of having symptoms of flu, cough, cold and fever. Rushing to the hospital in this situation is not the right call as crowding of any kind even in the hospitals can cause the spread of the virus. A senior doctor at a private hospital in Salalah called upon people not to rush to hospital for small issues and ailments which are not emergency or chronic in nature. Dr Pankaj Jain, Internist at Badr al Saama Hospital, cited a circular of the Ministry of Health a right decision in which it has requested all the private hospitals and clinics to attend only critical, emergency and chronic cases to avoid crowding and subsequent spread of the Covid-19. As a word of caution he suggested voluntary isolation instead of rushing to the hospital, use mask during any kind of flu symptom, if mask is not available use towel or any clean piece of cloth and don’t mix even with family members. Commenting further on not crowding the hospitals, he said, it was in the best interest of the community to take cautious call and be vigilant. “Isolation, hydration, separate towel, utensils and tumblers are very important. People should understand that at this point in time prevention is only cure,” he said. The MoH circular puts emphasis on “postponing all external clinic appointments except for urgent, external cases such as emergency cases for diabetics, hypertension, heart etc. As for periodic follow-up of patients with chronic diseases, the patients are not required to be hospitalised, said the MoH circular.