Cancer institute will move patients to private hospitals, test them

The sample of the 30-year-old male nursing officer was collected after he came in contact with one of the doctors from the hospital, who tested positive earlier this week.

After another nurse of the Delhi State Cancer Institute tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday, the institute has decided to shift all the patients admitted to its wards to private hospitals for treatment. The hospital had earlier closed the out-patient clinic for sanitisation.

Government Public Health employees in PPE chemically disinfect the residence of a 48 year old male -- who was tested positive for Covid-19 with a travel history to UAE. (Burhaan Kinu/HT PHOTO)

The sample of the 30-year-old male nursing officer was collected after he came in contact with one of the doctors from the hospital, who tested positive earlier this week. The samples of around 19 staff members had been collected, of which three tested positive. Two others, a male and a female nurse, both in their 40s, tested positive on Friday.

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Before shifting the 48 people admitted to the hospital for cancer treatment, their samples would be collected to see whether they might have contracted the infection. “We are in the process of shifting the patients. However, it will be done only after all of their samples have been collected,” an official from the hospital said, on condition of anonymity.

“Most of the patients in the hospital have a weak immune system and we cannot take a chance here. So, they are being moved to private hospitals for their treatment,” the official said. This will be done under the Delhi government’s existing Delhi Arogya Kosh scheme, which covers over 1,000 procedures in private hospitals.

It is, however, unclear where he got the infection from. “He has no history of foreign travel or treating any Covid-19 patient. So, the source of the infection is still a question mark. His brother and sister-in-law did travel to the UK in February, but they haven’t tested positive for the infection,” an official with the Delhi government’s health department said.

Another nurse from the emergency department of Apollo Hospital, who had come in contact with a 62-year-old man from Yemen, who had died of Covid-19, also tested positive earlier this week. Eight to 10 people who had come in contact with him have been asked to remain in quarantine.

At Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, 108 staff members have been asked to remain in quarantine after they came in contact with two Covid-19 positive patients a couple of days ago.

So far, at least eight doctors and five nurses in the city have tested positive for the disease.