Same name mess: +ve man home, -ve at Covid care, all is well now

DHANBAD: Two persons with the same first name at a quarantine centre here in Jamshedpur landed officials in soup after the staff admitted a man with a negative Covid-19 report to hospital in confusion , while the positive person was sent home. The mistake was later corrected after the positive man was admitted to the hospital, officials said on Thursday.

The incident took place at Tata Steel Digwadih quarantine centre on Tuesday night. After sample reports came from Tata Main Hospital (TMH) in Jamshedpur, in-charge of the quarantine centre sent one quarantined person to a Covid-19 hospital in Dhanbad.

However, the next day, having found out that another man with the same first name was also put in the same quarantine centre, officials verified the report and subsequently sent the positive patient to the hospital.

Since the man with the negative Covid-19 report had been put in the Covid ward with other positive patients for more than eight hours, Tata Steel Jharia Colliery management put him in the company’s isolation ward at Jamadova hospital.

A senior doctor of the hospital said his samples would be sent again for test to Jamshedpur after five days.

Confirming the same, Covid-19 hospital nodal officer Dr Alok Vishwakarma said the man with the negative report was taken to the isolation ward the following day by Tata Collieries.

“The man reached the Covid-19 hospital at late night (around 1am) on Wednesday by an ambulance without his test report and was admitted to the Covid ward. Tata Steel Jharia division officials sent another patient of the same name to the hospital the next day and took back the man admitted at night”, said Dr Vishwakarma.

The nodal officer said such confusion often prevails as patients do not carry their test report with them at the time of admission to the hospital.

Since test report usually comes late at night, the concerned officials search patients and send them to hospital in a hurry.

THE INCIDENT TOOK PLACE AT TATA STEEL DIGWADIH QUARANTINE CENTRE ON TUESDAY NIGHT. AFTER SAMPLE REPORTS CAME FROM TMH, JAMSHEDPUR, IN-CHARGE OF THE QUARANTINE CENTRE SENT ONE INMATE TO COVID HOSPITAL IN DHANBAD.