Wockhardt Hospital sealed off after 52 staffers test positive

Wockhardt Hospital in Agripada was declared a containment zone y the civic body, the first private hospital in the state to be marked so, on Sunday, after 52 employees,

Wockhardt Hospital in Agripada was declared a containment zone y the civic body, the first private hospital in the state to be marked so, on Sunday, after 52 employees, including doctors, nurses and ward boy, were diagnosed with the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

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According to the ministry of health, a Covid-19 containment zone refers to the area where cases of coronavirus are found. Containment zones are created to map the local transmission of the disease and prevent the contagion from spreading.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is investigating the matter and if any doctor is found negligent, the report will be submitted to Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) for further action. Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner (health), BMC, said they have sealed the hospital and none of the staffers will be allowed to go out until they test negative of coronavirus. “It is the fault of the hospital administration that they didn’t take precautionary measures, due to which nearly 300 staffers have been quarantined.” “We have also set up a team to probe how the virus spread among so many people in a hospital setting,” he added.

“Our colleague nurses and the doctors identified as Covid-19 positive are presently being treated. We have tested all those within the hospital and are treating the positive patients, quarantining the primary contacts of the infected and terminally cleaning the facility to contain the contagion,” read a statement by the hospital.

“The hospital staff were unknowingly exposed to the infection in the time period. We are informing the healthcare sector at large not to be misled by asymptomatic patients,” it read further.

Authorities, after holding a meeting with the hospital administration and nurses association, have decided to shift high and mild-risk patients to SevenHills and Kasturba Hospital respectively, while the low-risk ones will be kept in quarantine centres or at the hospital itself.

“Soon, Covid-19 patients will be shifted to isolation facilities under civic and private-run hospitals. We are categorising patients, depending on their health conditions,” said health officials.

The BMC has contacted the MMC, seeking guidance in the alleged matter of medical negligence. But as hospitals don’t come under the purview of MMC, the council can’t take direct action against the hospital. “So, we will have to wait until BMC completes their investigation. If they find any individual doctor in violation of rules, it will be referred to us. The doctor will be asked to provide an explanation, following which, action will be decided,” said Dr Shivkumar Utture, president of MMC.

More than 200 nurses from Kerala are working at Wockhardt Hospital, of which, more than 150 nurses in the hospital are kept under observation.

As HT had reported earlier, the infected nurses alleged that owing to the negligence of the hospital, the infection spread across to other staffers. “We have contracted the infection after we were exposed to suspected coronavirus patients who were undergoing treatment in a general ward at the hospital,” said a nurse from the hospital who has been found positive. The relatives of the patients also claimed that the infected nurses shared the same canteen, hostels and bathrooms with uninfected medical staffers.

“We were asked to attend to Covid-19 patients without protective kits. Despite raising the issue, the management didn’t pay heed to us,” said a nurse from the hospital. The hospital, rather than quarantining the nurses, was forcing them to work, which further spread the virus to other staff.

While recollecting the alleged harassment, one nurse said when BMC came for inspection on April 1, few of the nurses informed them about their symptoms, after which the senior officers from the hospital reprimanded them.

MA Sayyed, acting chairman of Maharashtra State Human Right Commissio,n said that it also counts as a violation of human rights. “The hospital may be the employer of the nurses, but not providing basic amenities of medicos counts as violation of human rights. This is also a violation of rights preserved under the Indian constitution. As it is a private hospital, we can’t take action, but we request the corporation to punish the violator,” he said.

Meanwhile, members of Jan Swastha Abhiyan (JSA) have written to the BMC commissioner Praveen Pardeshi seeking an appropriate action against the hospital for not providing adequate safety to medicos on duty. “We have demanded to provide proper training to nurses in handling coronavirus patients. Along with that, all nurses should be provided with personal protective equipment in all hospitals,” said Inayat Singh, JSA.

The hospital has identified the source of infection as a 70-year-old patient who was admitted to the hospital on March 17 for a cardiac emergency. The patient was asymptomatic (showed no symptoms of Covid-19). On March 26, the patient developed cough, and was tested for coronavirus, which turned out positive.