PGIMER, GMCH staff testing positive for Covid-19 a worrying trend for Chandigarh

Nearly 30% of the city’s cases are either health workers of PGIMER and GMCH-32 or their primary contacts

The last three days have revealed a worrying trend. Four out of nine persons testing positive for Covid-19 in the city are healthcare workers at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) and Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32 – both at the forefront of the battle against the virus.

The four who tested positive in the last four days include a nurse from PGIMER; and a nurse, an operation theatre assistant and a ward boy from GMCH-32. Five others are primary contacts of the GMCH employee.

This development comes even as Chandigarh recorded its biggest spike on Sunday with six persons testing positive, taking the count to 36.

“It is a matter of concern that institutes at the forefront of the fight against Covid-19 are now contributing to the number of positive cases,” said a senior UT official requesting anonymity.

Nearly 30% of the city’s cases are either health workers of PGIMER and GMCH-32 or their primary contacts.

In fact, of the total 36 cases confirmed positive so far, six patients are staffers at the institutes and five are their primary contacts. Tests of other contacts are awaited.

Among positive cases reported earlier in PGIMER, a nurse tested positive on April 1; two workers on April 17 and one on April 19.

A spurt in cases at Nayagon in Mohali, in fact, has been attributed by local authorities to “exposure” of PGIMER employees to the virus after a 30-year-old attendant from the institute first tested positive. His wife, mother, child, brother-in-law and a 25-year-old living in the same building as them at Adarsh Nagar have also tested positive.

Then there’s the GMCH-32 operation theatre attendant from Bapu Dham Colony in Chandigarh who tested positive on Friday. His father, mother, two sisters and a child have also contracted the disease.

FOLLOW PROTOCOL STRICTLY

UT adviser Manoj Kumar Parida has admitted that the infections among hospital staff are a matter of concern and asked the institutes to follow safety protocols strictly.

PGIMER directorDr Jagat Ram has said: “We need to minimise such instances.” Since healthcare workers were at huge risk, they should follow the guidelines and protocols laid down by the authorities, he said.