The divisional administration Jammu on Tuesday deferred all elective or routine surgeries in government as well as private hospitals in the division in view of the prevailing COVID-19 surge which has overburdened the health institutions.
An order issued by Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Dr Raghav Langer while ordering deferment of the surgeries, however excluded cases having pressing medical reasons and the benefits of such procedure outweigh the risk related to COVID-19 situation and its fallout.
Besides, emergency services, those for comorbid patients, dialysis facility and other urgent surgeries shall be operational as usual, it said.
It said the prevailing pandemic situation demands optimal utilization of available resources so that the existing infrastructure is not overburdened.
The main focus of the healthcare system under the prevailing situation is COVID-19 management for which majority of the resources have been diverted, it added.
The divisional commissioner Jammu has asked the concerned DCs to conduct random inspections and audit of the health facilities in their jurisdictions to ensure the compliance of the order he said shall be periodically reviewed as per the prevailing COVID-19 situation.