Patna: The health department has directed all district hospitals to ensure the availability of 70 types of surgeries and strengthen their referral mechanisms, with health secretary Kumar Ravi asking hospitals to conduct basic diagnostic tests before referring patients to higher centres.The department has also asked hospitals to make ventilator-equipped ICUs functional and ensure dedicated operation theatres for gynaecology, general surgery and orthopaedics.The directions were issued during a video-conference review meeting chaired by Ravi on Wednesday and attended by civil surgeons, hospital superintendents and senior health department officials from across the state.Ravi said no patient should be referred without first recording the referral online on the Bhavya portal and conducting basic diagnostic tests. He also directed officials to minimise direct referrals from primary and community health centres to higher-level hospitals so that district hospitals can handle a larger number of cases.The department also stressed the need to strengthen 24×7 emergency services at all district hospitals and implement a triage system to ensure patients are prioritised according to the severity of their condition and receive timely treatment.District hospitals have been asked to ensure 70 types of surgeries, for which dedicated and functional OTs for gynaecology, general surgery and orthopaedics will be developed. Where adequate space is unavailable, the department has suggested using prefabricated structures to create additional facilities.The health secretary also directed officials to make ventilator-equipped ICUs operational at all district hospitals at the earliest. The move is aimed at improving the capacity of govt hospitals to manage critical and surgical cases locally and reduce unnecessary referrals to medical colleges and other tertiary-care facilities.The meeting also reviewed the availability of doctors and compliance with duty rosters at govt hospitals. Officials were directed to ensure that doctors remain available as per the prescribed roster and that patients receive timely treatment.The performance of district hospitals under the Ayushman Bharat scheme was also reviewed, with officials instructed to increase the use of Ayushman cards and improve hospital performance under the scheme.According to the health department, district hospitals conducted 3,366 surgeries during the second half of July, highlighting the surgical workload at these facilities.Special secretary Thiyagarajan S M; special secretary Arvind Kumar Verma; BMSICL managing director Subrat Kumar Sen; State Ayush Committee executive director Vaibhav Chaudhary and State Health Society additional executive director Sparsh Gupta were among those present at the meeting.
