15 doctors, nurses at VNIT CCC test +ve

Nagpur: Fifteen front-line Covid warriors, including 10 doctors and five auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs) deployed at VNIT Covid Care Centre (CCC) tested positive on Thursday. They were monitoring close to 200 positive asymptomatic patients at the CCC.
Now, the only working staff remaining at the CCC are its two nodal officers who didn’t get the RT-PCR test done.The 15 CCC staff had got the test done as per protocol for professionals coming directly in contact with positive patients.
As per officials, the nodal officers were planning a test at a later date. “Having no symptoms, they felt there was no urgency. They will be soon tested,” said officials.
Health workers are taking the test after every 15 days to stay alert as well as prevent spread at home and in society in case they are asymptomatic carriers.
The positive doctors and ANMs were shifted to Lata Mangeshkar Hospital, which has started treating Covid patients. “Two of them are symptomatic,” said officials.
Civil surgeon Dr Devendra Patturkar said health and police personnel are the most exposed to the infection and therefore they are turning positive. “They were taking all precautions but it is happening everywhere. It can’t be exactly said where they got infected, at home or CCC,” he said.
District health officer Dr Deepak Selukar’s office has been assisting the administration in running 18 CCCs in city and across 12 tehsils. The CCCs are led by doctors from the public health department and supported by pooled in staff. The officials had pooled in doctors and ANMs mainly from Rashtriya Bal Swastha Karyakram under the National Health Mission and ayurveda colleges. Of the 30, only 15 had joined.
Officials said the rest would be asked to immediately report to VNIT CCC on Friday. “One nodal officer, a couple of medical officers and nurses have been working in a shift at VNIT,” said officials.
Besides VNIT CCC, another doctor from Kuhi CCC has tested positive and admitted to a city hospital. Around 12 medical workers under the civil surgeon have tested positive so far.
Around 12 nurses and as many resident doctors each from IGGMCH and IGGMCH have also tested positive in the last one month. A deputy district health officer, some civic medical officers and nurses too have been infected with Covid during the same period.
Government doctors are baffled as all those testing positive among them were dealing with non-Covid work. “It can’t be clearly said that they got infected at the hospital. Covid and non-Covid duties are rotated to protect them from falling ill. Yet, some who didn’t work for longer period in Covid wards are now testing positive,” they said, adding that this happened despite doctors and nurses strictly following all guidelines.