COVID-19 pandemic: Hospital preparedness in a tertiary care hospital in North East India

BACKGROUND: The first case of Coronavirus was reported by World Health Organisation (WHO) on 31 December 2019. Due to its high infectivity and increasing mortality, WHO on 30 January 2020 declared the infection as public health emergency of international concern. Various measures were initiated and carried out by health care facilities to tackle the pandemic. Our experiences of hospital preparedness may help future health policies to tackle the pandemics. METHOD: Various guidelines given by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Centre for Disease Control, Indian Council of Medical Research were studied and analysed. The hospital lay out plan was studied, modifications in the physical structure of the hospital as planned by the hospital authorities were observed and recorded. The impact of the new planning on patient management was recorded by the investigators. RESULTS: It was observed that proper planning on the basis of laid down guidelines and the modifiable initial layout is very effective in the prevention and management of the pandemic. A total of 130 beds of the hospital under study could be separated from the main building with little modifications. Another important observation was dedicated leadership and coordination among different specialities ensuring successful planning. The investigators concluded that the new hospitals should be planned and constructed in such a way so that a major part of the hospital building can be converted to an isolation area with little modifications in the physical structure of the hospital at the time of pandemics.