At the reception desk of the administrative block of Government Medical College Hospital, Ernakulam, you are asked to disinfect your hands using a sanitiser. On the wall across from the desk is a white board screaming out the word of the day, ‘Alert’ in English and ‘Jagrata’ in Malayalam.
At the other end of the lobby is a wide glass door, behind which a white curtain running across the small courtyard leading to a towering seven-storey building segregates two sets of people, all wearing face masks. Some are seated in chairs, while a few stand around having animated talk over their phones. A few desks with people in personal protective equipment (PPE) are seen in the portico and inside its opaque glass doors. It houses the largest isolation facility in the State for symptomatic suspected COVID-19 cases and confirmed patients.
Over the past two days, there has been a rush of inbound travellers at the Cochin international airport, mostly from the 13-affected countries bracketed in the high risk group, who were ferried to the isolation facility in sanitised ambulances driven by men in PPE for swab collection and screening.
Segregation
“In view of the rush, we segregated patients into high- and low-risk categories based on symptoms (or lack of it), history of illnesses and travel history. It was a need-based stratification based on which admission was done, with the rest being advised mandatory home quarantine. We have set up primary and secondary triages,” said Dr. Ganesh Mohan, in charge of the isolation facility and assistant nodal officer for COVID-19 control.
There are also secondary contacts and symptomatic home-quarantined people brought to the facility.
Dr. Mohan had taken the lead in setting it up a year ago to isolate suspected Nipah patients and it was being used to house the library and office quarters.
But, 49 days ago, when the first wave of COVID-19 hit the State in the form of Malayali medical students from China (they have since bee