Health dept breathes sigh of relief as 44 medical staff test negative at NRS

Kolkata: As many as 44 staff members of NRS Medical College and Hospital including doctors and nursing staff who were put under quarantine have tested negative for COVID-19 on Wednesday, giving a major mental boost to the state Health department.

Thirty staff members had undergone swab tests on Tuesday and all the reports came in negative. A total of 79 persons were asked to remain under quarantine after the hospital authorities had found that they might have come in close contact with a patient who died of COVID-19 in the hospital. Some of them were taken to the quarantine centre at the Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute in New Town, while some others were put under home quarantine. As the reports of the doctors, nursing staff members and health workers came in negative, they have been asked by the Health department to remain under home quarantine for the next 14 days, following which swab tests would be performed.

Meanwhile, the department has been carrying out a search to identify the other persons who might have come in close contact with the deceased. A 34-year-old man, a resident of Maheshtala who was admitted with hemophilia, died at the hospital in the morning of April 4 before testing positive for COVID-19. The hospital authorities on Monday shut down the male medicine ward and the CCU as a precautionary measure to ensure that virus did not get transmitted to other persons. A comprehensive disinfecting drive had been taken up.

The patient was admitted to NRS Medical College and Hospital on March 30. He had been suffering from hemophilia. He was initially kept at the male medicine ward and later put in the CCU as his condition deteriorated. He died at the hospital in the morning of April 4 but his reports came in later on the same day.

According to hospital sources, those who were admitted at the male medicine ward are being released currently in phases. Admission to the male medicine ward and the CCU will remain stopped as of now. A disinfection drive is being carried out at various other wards as well to ensure that there is no scope for transmission of the virus.