Techies risk lives en route Gandhi
A lopsided approach to testing possible Novel Coronavirus cases (Covid19), could have already left hundreds of city people in the lurch with potential victims of the disease being asked by authorities to go to the Gandhi General Hospital for check-ups and drawing of samples.
In making this trip, and a return trip back home to begin a mandatory selfquarantine period, such individuals have been coming into contact either with cab drivers, fellow passengers in the metro trains or buses.
This mode of travel, using public or private transport has the potential to expose more people to the possibility of catching the disease in the event any of the suspects is later proven to have the disease.
For instance, on Wednesday, 72 employees of an IT firm in Jubilee Hills rushed to the Gandhi General Hospital (GGH) to get themselves evaluated as the sample of one of their employees was sent to the National Institute of Virology for a second test for Covid-19. The techies’ colleague had tested positive for the disease and was currently in Gandhi hospital for treatment.
Since there is no provision in place at present for collecting samples from potential disease victims at their homes, such individuals have no option but to visit the hospital using the mode of transport they can either afford, or find convenient. These employees were asked to come via their own transport to Secunderabad. They might have used public transport like the metro rail, cabs, in unlikely cases maybe an RTC bus, and some of them came in a car pool to the hospital.
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These employees were exposed to hundreds of others in the metro rail which means that they have moved from one location to the other.
The health department asked all the employees to self-isolate at home, and if they exhibit any symptoms, to get themselves tested at Gandhi Hospital. This created a major panic and all of them thought best to get tested and rushed to the hospital.
According to Central guidelines, samples were to be collected only at the accredited Central government-run lab at the Gandhi Hospital. Incidentally, of the 72 employees of the IT firm who rushed to Gandhi, hospital staff collected samples from only 20 because they exhibited some Covid-19 symptoms. Incidentally, since January 15, a total of 536 others, all international passengers arriving at the Rajiv Gandhi international airport at
Shamshabad, have been referred to visit the hospital for checks because of exhibiting some symptoms.
However, a senior health department official sought to allay any fears of possible suspects using public transport. “Till now there has been no local transmission. The two cases whose samples are being tested are those who have a travel history to countries which are affected with the virus. In Hyderabad, so far there is no local transmission meaning of person to person without a travel history abroad.”
“The 20 techies whose samples were collected “are those who were in close contact with the one suspect, whose final test results are awaited from NIV Pune. These were identified as attending meetings with this individual, used the same lift, being near a water cooler, sharing lunch and having travelled in the same cab. Others who were advised to home quarantine did not have any close contact with the potential victim,” the official explained.
The patient who text positive in the first test is in Gandhi Hospital and has a travel history from airport shows her contact with a taxi driver, who too has also been asked to give his sample. At home, family members have been told to self-isolate and urge visitors to the family during the last week to do the same.