Police manning the gates to the Zion Hospital and Research Centre Dimapur on April13.(Morung Photo)
Police manning the gates to the Zion Hospital and Research Centre Dimapur on April13.(Morung Photo)
Morung Express News
Dimapur| April 13
With news of the first COVID-19 case reported from Nagaland, the private hospital which referred the patient to the COVID-19 centre in Dimapur has been completely sealed off.
Shortly after Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma broke the news in a tweet on April 12 at 10:52 pm, officials from the Dimapur CMO office reached Zion Hospital and Research Centre (ZHRC); and by 1:00 am, April 13, the hospital gates were locked, with nobody allowed in or out.
A Medical Officer of the hospital on duty at the time of the lockdown told The Morung Express that details of doctors, staff, technicians, cleaners and sweepers who came in direct contact with the patient was submitted, including the names of the patients who were admitted on the same floor at the time of the patient’s stay in the hospital.
After the hospital was sealed off, the District Commissioner (DC) also reportedly visited the hospital and a team from the DMC sprayed disinfectant in the hospital premise.
According to reports, more than 20 policemen were on guard outside the hospital after it was sealed off.
Patients being monitored over phone
According to a doctor in the hospital, 32 patients who were admitted in ZHRC have been locked in along with the others. Around 180 people are inside ZHRC, including those residing in the hospital quarters. Around 32 people who came into direct contact with the COVID-19 patient have been listed, and those already at the hospital have been isolated/quarantined. They include 4 doctors and other hospital staff.
The doctor who attended to the patient confirmed that he has been moved to a quarantine centre.
With doctors not allowed to come in or go out, the patients were being monitored over the phone and with the help of their case sheets.“In the best ways possible, we are trying to attend to the patients. We have communicated to the consultants what is to be done for each patient. But we cannot go to see the patient directly, because we may be exposing them,” a ZHRC medical officer said.
Waiting for official directives
The medical officer disclosed that they were still awaiting official directive on further course of action. The hospital staff who were not on duty at the time of the lockdown were also called to the hospital in the morning of April 13. “We are waiting for a directive, a plan from the COVID centre and the CMO office, but none has been received so far,” a doctor at the hospital told The Morung Express around 3:30 pm.
“Patients are still in need of medical care...there are some requiring haemodialysis, some going into labour pain,” another doctor said.
What next?
Wellbeing of the patients and their medical attendants is a major concern besides the food and ration for all those inside. There were unconfirmed reports of patients being shifted out of ZHRC, but a senior doctor of the hospital denied any such activity as on April 13.
Doctors inside the hospital said that they had arranged for food from the hospital canteen for the day. However they expressed apprehension that the canteen stock would not last for many days. Meanwhile, babies in ICU in need of paediatricians, patients and attendants facing shortage of food and water etc were reported.
Late in the evening, some sources at the hospital informed that the gates had been opened. Doctors who were in direct contact with the COVID-19 patient were being moved to the quarantine centre, the source added.
State Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Pangnyu Phom meanwhile informed The Morung Express that the District Administration and hospital authorities held a meeting in the evening of April 13. While according to Pangnyu, the ‘communication gap’ between the government and the hospital authorities had been sorted, no update on the arrangements for the patients or those inside Zion Hospital could be ascertained as officials of the Health Department were unavailable for comment at the time of filing this report.
Zion Hospital denies report on patient
DIMAPUR, APRIL 13 (MExN): The Zion Hospital and Research Centre Dimapur today informed that it did not refer the patient from Dimapur who tested positive for COVID-19 to the GMC Hospital, Guwahati.
A press release from the hospital management informed that the patient had been referred to Zion hospital as a case of Anaemia from another nursing home.
It stated that at the time of admission, he did not give any history of travel in spite of asking the same. When he came back the following day on April 11 with fever, cough and difficulty in breathing, on repeated questioning the father admitted that his son had returned from Kolkata on March 24, the press release added.
After examining the patient and finding high index of clinical suspicion, the hospital contacted the concerned officers at the COVID-19 (District Hospital) Dimapur and the patient was referred to the COVID-19 (District Hospital) Dimapur as per the instructions of the Government authorities. All possible aseptic measures were taken so that no staff or any other patients in the hospital would be infected, it informed.
“We are not aware about how the patient reached GMC Hospital, Guwahati because the patient was referred to the COVID-19 (District Hospital) Dimapur,” it stated.
