How Meenakshi Mission Hospital Leads the Fight Against Coronavirus

(Photo: MMHRC)

The hospital has served more than 1 million patients since its inception three decades ago.

Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, a lot of non-COVID patients are unsure of visiting hospitals for their treatment, for fear of contracting COVID. This is where one hospital is leading the fight against coronavirus with its ‘Six-Stage Ultra Safety Program’. Madurai’s Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre (MMHRC) has implemented a one-of-its-kind safety program, making it the safest hospital in the country today, protecting all patients, visitors and staff from the highly infectious coronavirus.

MMHRC is the biggest multi super-specialty hospital in Tamil Nadu outside of Chennai.

With 1000 beds and 45 medical specialties, this hospital has served more than 1 million patients since its inception three decades ago.

The steps they have put into effect are based on global practices followed by some of the world’s best hospitals.

Here’s how MMHRC is changing the game when it comes to patient safety amid coronavirus with its six-stage program.

#1 Smart Security

As soon as you enter the hospital, the security personnel will subject you to a contactless body temperature check with their smart infrared AI helmets. This way they can identify any potential carriers of the virus.

#2 Smart Fever Clinic

The hospital is equipped with a Smart Fever Clinic. Whether you’re a patient or a visitor, here they ensure that everyone’s wearing a mask. In case you’re not wearing one, you will be provided with a mask. They will once again check your body temperature here with thermal infrared guns.

Every patient is thoroughly examined by an on-duty doctor before being allowed inside. Patients and their visitors are asked to sanitise their hands and then provided with identity tags. This ensures that only those who’ve cleared the screening procedure are in the hospital premises.

#3 Smart Thermal Surveillance Camera

This camera remotely checks everyone’s temperature round the clock so that any person running a high temperature can be identified by the hospital. They’re then taken for an emergency check-up.

#4 Advanced COVID-19 Testing Equipment

MMHRC is the only hospital in all of Tamil Nadu to have three different advanced technologies for COVID-19 testing:

• RT-PCR: Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction
• Tru NAAT: True Nucleic Acid Amplification Test
• CB NAAT: Cartridge Based Nucleic Acid Amplification Test

#5 Safety Robot

The hospital is leaving nothing to chance. They have a safety robot that’s on the move 24X7 spraying disinfectant and sterilising every corner of the hospital. This ensures that frequently touched surfaces are sanitised at all times.

#6 Server Robot

There is no compromise whatsover when it comes to hygiene. The hospital has a server robot that carries meals to patients so as to minimise human-to-human contact.

In addition to these practices, the hospital uses techniques and safety devices that have been developed by its own experts. They include Bluetooth Stethoscope and Thanjavur Air Barrier Technique (TABT), both created by Meenakshi Hospital, Thanjavur. What’s more is that MMHRC is the only Indian hospital that has an in-house N-95 mask manufacturing facility to tide over mask shortages in the market.

The Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre clearly believes in putting the safety of their patients above all else and is leading by example in this regard.

The coronavirus pandemic has put us in the middle of an unprecedented health crisis, but efforts such as the ones undertaken by MMHRC are contributing significantly in the fight against the virus.