MMG Hospital Covid team tests negative for coronavirus, to remain in quarantine

A group of 12 doctors and staff members, who have been on duty at the MMG District Hospital since the first case was reported in the district in early March, have

A group of 12 doctors and staff members, who have been on duty at the MMG District Hospital since the first case was reported in the district in early March, have tested negative for the Covid-19 disease in first of the two tests required as per protocol, officials of the district health department said Thursday.

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“The report of the first team has come out negative for Saras-Cov-2 (the virus that causes Covid-19 disease). They had been on duty since early March and are now in passive quarantine. The second team is looking after patients in the isolation ward. Once the first team completes 14 days, they will return to active duty. They will then stay in active quarantine and continue to stay away from their families,” Ghaziabad chief medical officer Dr NK Gupta said.

The development comes as a sigh of relief for the hospital authorities as the group includes the hospital’s only physician, besides six nurses and six ward boys. The hospital faces staff shortage even as 13 areas have been made containment zones in the district.

“The first team to go on passive quarantine includes our only physician. In absence of our only physician, we have deployed three doctors—radiologist, skin specialist and paediatrician—for attending to patients in the 50-bed isolation ward. Four staff nurses, three pharmacists, three ward boys and three cleaning staff members are now on duty. The two teams will work in rotation,” said Dr Ravinder Rana, chief medical superintendent of MMG District Hospital.

CMO Dr Gupta said the first Covid test of the medical staff is done on 12-13th day after last contact with a positive patient. In case the first report is negative, a second test is repeated after 24 hours. In case the first report is positive, the second test is repeated after 2-4 days. “They will be considered negative when two consecutive reports are found negative. For positive patients, the second test is also repeated on 12-13th day,” he added.

The physician, who is presently in passive quarantine at a hotel room in Mohan Nagar, said he had been on duty from March 12 when first Covid-19 patient was detected in Ghaziabad. “It has been a long time since I have been able to meet my two daughters and wife. Although it is a major relief that I have tested negative for Covid-19, but I have been cut off from home and am only in touch with them through the mobile phone,” the physician from MMG Hospital said.

“When they were on duty, they were not allowed to go home and were residing in the hospital complex itself,” Dr Rana said.

No new cases were reported from Ghaziabad on Friday. The total number Covid-19 cases remained 25, of which three have recovered; no fatalities have been recovered from Ghaziabad.

There have been instances in Delhi and Mumbai where doctors and nurses have tested positive for Covid-19.