Health dept takes nearly a day to admit 76 patients in Amritsar hospital

The health department took 21 hours to shift 76 Nanded-returned pilgrims who tested positive from their quarantine centres to the isolation ward of the Government Medical College and Hospital

With the health department taking almost a day (21 hours) to shift 76 Nanded-returned pilgrims who tested positive from their quarantine centres to the isolation ward of the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Amritsar, other patients quarantined with them fear being infected.

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Of 600 pilgrims that had reached the city over the past three days, 76 positive patients were known by 9pm on Thursday, yet all were admitted to the isolation ward only by 6pm on Friday. They had been quarantined for 21 days across Swami Vivekananda Drug De-addiction and Rehabilitation Centre, Princess of Wales Jenana Hospital, quarantine centre, Fatehpur (Chabal Road) and Naraingarh health centre.

“By 6pm on Friday, all 76 patients had been admitted at the isolation ward of the GMCH. Most of them are symptomatic and are healthy and fit. Only some of them will need treatment by specialist doctors,” said Dr Raman Sharma, medical superintendent, GMCH, Amritsar.

Amritsar civil surgeon Dr Jugal Kishore said, “We sent our teams immediately to these quarantine centres. It took time to trace as we did not know which person belonged to which quarantine centre.”