Fifty doctors and over 20 nursing staff at the prestigious Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) hospital in Patna have been quarantined following the diagnosis of 5 nursing staff and doctors as corona positive. Three patients, who were admitted for non-Covid symptoms, have also tested positive after sustained tests and subsequently, the hospital administration has quarantined the entire team of doctors and nursing staff, who attended to these patients. IGIMS medical superintendent Manish Mandal told The Daily Guardian that the patients had been admitted on 15 and 16 April and were being treated for kidney, liver ailments and tuberculosis.
“Around 20 April, Covid detection kits came to us and it was established that these three patients were corona positive. We subsequently took samples of those who came in close contact with these patients and 5 IGIMS staff were found to be corona positive so the entire set of staff treating these patients or had come in close contact with them have been sent to quarantine,” he said. Now after the matter came to light, the hospital management has vacated isolation wards and launched a sanitisation drive. It is significant to mention that keeping in mind the larger interests of the patients, who throng the hospital from across the state, the hospital was not designated for Covid-19 treatment and only patients with other ailments were allowed here. However, some patients, who were admitted for non-Covid symptoms turned out to be corona positive infecting several doctors and other staff at the hospital. Now, samples have been collected from 25 people working at the hospital and sent for tests. The results are awaited. At the IGIMS, facilities are available for testing of coronavirus and approximately 250 samples are tested here every day.