Govt OPDs in UP shut for Diwali, authorities share schedules

A few government hospital OPDs (outpatient departments) in Lucknow are going to be shut in keeping with the government holidays announced for Diwali and Gowardhan Puja, while staff and arrangements in emergency departments got beefed up for accidents and other cases arriving in the festive season.

The King George’s Medical University OPD will be shut on Thursday, and reopen on Friday, while the Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences will not see patients in the OPD on both Thursday and Friday, given the government holidays. However, the chief medical superintendent at RMLIMS has said that burn victims will be seen on priority.

The Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences is up and running on Thursday, but the OPD will remain shut for fresh appointments on Friday, although follow-up and previously appointed patients will be seen, a press statement from the institution read. Emergency services at all three institutions will be active, with additional staff deployed for accident and burn victims.

The largest government hospital in the district, Balrampur Hospital, will run till 12PM on Thursday morning, shutting down operations on Friday and Saturday (Govardhan Puja). “The Balrampur OPD will start functioning as normal from November 4, Monday. Emergency services have been strengthened at the hospital, and we have a burns unit of 35 beds reserved and ready,” informed CMS Dr NB Singh.

At Syama Prasad Mukherjee (Civil) Hospital, the OPD will run till 12PM on Thursday and Saturday with a full shutdown on Friday, and again till 12PM on Saturday, and the same goes for Lok Bandhu Hospital as well. Lok Bandhu Hospital has also reserved six beds in their emergency ward, which can be extended to 10 if the need arises, for accident cases during Diwali.