Mohali admn wants its 400 locals working in PGIMER to stay in Chandigarh

The district health authorities in a door-to-door survey had identified around 400 employees of PGIMER staying in Nayagaon, who are now in the process of being tested to rule out any possibility of infection

The district administration has written to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) to retain around 400 of its employees, who are all residents of Mohali, in Chandigarh for at least the next 15 days.

To date, eight positive cases have been reported in Nayagaon, of which seven are either employees of PGIMER or their primary contacts. (HT FILE)

A letter was shot off by deputy commissioner Girish Dayalan to the director of PGIMER, Dr Jagat Ram, suggesting the step “in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in Nayagaon”— a potential hotspot and presently a containment zone of Mohali, besides Jawaharpur village.

To date, eight positive cases have been reported in Nayagaon, of which seven are either employees of PGIMER or their primary contacts. The district authorities have pinpointed in the letter that the “exposure” of the PGI employees to the virus was evident in the Nayagaon cases.

Mohali has reported 63 positive cases so far, of which 47 are active and 14 have been cured, besides two deaths. The district has the second highest count of positive cases in the state, and highest in the tricity area.

MOVE TO PREVENT SPREAD IN DENSE NAYAGAON

“It would be advisable that the employees of PGIMER who are residing in Nayagaon stayed in the institute or at an alternate accommodation in Chandigarh at least for the next 15 days, so that others in the dense habitation are not exposed,” the letter said.

The district health authorities in a door-to-door survey had identified around 400 employees of PGIMER staying in Nayagaon, who are now in the process of being tested to rule out any possibility of infection.

“To keep the employees in PGI itself shall be in the best interest of the employees and their families, who are at the greatest risk of exposure. It is critical to ensure timely and adequate safeguards are taken in this area to contain the spread of Covid-19,” said Dayalan in the letter.

Already a 30-year-old hospital attendant working with the PGIMER, his 26-year-old wife, a two-month-old baby, 20-year-old brother-in-law and 60-year-old mother, along with a 30-year-old colleague and a 25-year-old who stays in the same building in Adarsh Nagar of Nayagaon have tested positive. Earlier, a 65-year-old man of Nayagaon’s Dashmesh Nagar had died of the disease on March 31, and his son suspects that he had caught the infection at the hospital.

Nayagaon is a thickly populated area with largely working class, low income groups residing there. The 27 families staying in the same building as the PGI attendant are under home quarantine.