Ward boy, patient turn superspreaders at Nims

● Fifty doctors in Osmania Medical College, 35 in Nims, and four in Gandhi Hospital have tested positive, taking the total count to 89 in the city

Sixteen doctors and 19 paramedical staff in Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (Nims) have tested positive for Covid19, taking the total of medical staff affected to 35. Fifty doctors in Osmania Medical College and four in Gandhi Hospital have also tested positive, which makes it a total of 89 doctors working in government hospitals testing positive.

At Nims, three doctors in the cardiology department, three resident doctors in the kidney department and five paramedical staff tested positive on Tuesday. The results of another 10 are awaited and will be released only after 11 pm.

Doctors in the kidney department are suffering from high grade fever and are being monitored.

Contact tracing within the hospital found that a ward boy in the cardiology department had fever and cough. This was not reported, leading to the spread of the virus as the ward boy also visited other departments in the hospital. Apart from that, a patient who had come for a heart related ailment also developed bilateral pneumonia, leading to further spread of the infection.

According to senior doctors at Nims, post-graduates in the kidney department have been asking for accommodation inside the hospital campus or near the hospital but did not get it. Despite orders from the government about providing accommodation to doctors, this was not done and they have to commute from various places in and around Hyderabad. This is a way of spreading and contracting the virus. All departments in the speciality block of Nims Hospital have been closed and fumigation of the hospital building is being carried out.

There has been a huge rush of patients, elective surgeries, and also free movement of patient’s relatives at the hospital. Large numbers of people in a hotspot like a hospital allows for easy spread of the virus. A senior doctor at Nims Hospital said there are “gaps in thermal screening and seriously evaluating symptoms of healthcare workers. Hospitals have to be extra careful as they are hotspots but that has not happened, leading to this situation.” Medical and non-medical staff at Nims Hospital has now been told to immediately report any symptoms, or contact with already positive doctors.