Phones banned, city hospital facilitates video calls for COVID-19 patients

Kolkata, April 27 () With mobile phones having beenbanned at COVID-19 wards of all hospitals, a city-basedprivate facility has decided to allow "virtual visitations"between patients and family members.

The AMRI Hospital in Salt Lake had on Sundayfacilitated video calls for 17 patients, a senior official atthe facility said.

"Every day, nurses at the isolation wards willapproach the patients and connect them with their familiesover video call. The virtual visits will take place between4:30 pm and 5:30 pm, and each patient will get around threeminutes to interact with their family members," he said.

The service will soon be extended to AMRI Dhakuria andMukundapur, too, he said, adding that "the device (tablet) isproperly disinfected after every use".

At another state-run hospital in the city,arrangements have been made for landline services.

Authorities at MR Bangur Hospital said they have setup GSM-based wireless local loop (WLL) phones at the COVID-19isolation wards to help the patients connect with their nearand dear ones. SCHRMS RMS