
Lockdown at hospital lifted on April 14
Morung Express News
Dimapur| April 14
After Zion Hospital and Research Centre (ZHRC) was sealed off on April 13, the doctors and staff who came in direct contact with the COVID-19 patient were taken to quarantine centres in Dimapur. 43 people have been listed, and sources confirmed that they were moved to three different centres by day-end of April 13.
State Nodal Officer for the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), Dr Nyanthung Kikon told The Morung Express that samples have been taken from those who came into direct contact with the patient. Swab samples were collected after segregating them into high, moderate and low risk categories. According to Dr Kikon, samples of high risk individuals were collected and sent on April 13. The samples of the rest of the staff in quarantine were collected on April 14 and the results were awaited.
ZHRC opened, contaminated floor sealed off
Meanwhile, Zion Hospital and Research Centre (ZHRC) was opened on the evening of April 14, according to hospital officials. The floor where the COVID-19 patient was admitted was sealed and whoever came in contact with him quarantined, either in quarantine centres or in the hospital.
The move came as a relief for the 32 patients who had been locked in along with the hospital staff. According to hospital sources, the patients who could leave the hospital have been discharged and as on April 14 evening, only 10 patients were admitted in the ZHRC. “We are really grateful to the patients and their attendants for being very understanding and cooperative throughout this ordeal,” a senior doctor of ZHRC said.
Transitional hiccups
While people have been quarantined prior to this, the accommodation of ZHRC staff in quarantine centres should serve as reality check on how prepared the quarantine centres are.
Having come into direct contact with the patient who tested positive, the ZHRC staff stood at a higher level of risk and needed immediate isolation. However, they were shifted to the quarantine centres only late in the evening of April 13.
Although the quarantine centres were reportedly kept on standby, there were reports of some individuals being stranded in the middle of the night as the hotels assigned as quarantine centres were “not prepared” to receive inmates at short notice.
The confusion was reportedly sorted out and the individuals were settled into another quarantine centre by midnight of April 13, sources told The Morung Express.
There were also reports on the low quality of food served to those in quarantine. Social media was flooded with photos of the food being served in the quarantine centre. Some people highlighted that even the food should be provided to those in quarantine as per dietary norms. “Those who were in direct contact with the patient will surely be under physical and mental stress. Along with other care, they should also be receiving proper food that will boost their immune system and keep them healthy,” said a relative of one of the hospital staff under quarantine.
Hospital urges people not to stigmatise doctors and staff
The ZHRC has meanwhile appealed to the public and colony well-wishers to understand the way the disease is spread and not stigmatise doctors and hospital staff, “who for the last decade or more have been giving their best to save lives of the dear fellow citizens and trying their best to alleviate their sufferings.”
A press release from the ZHRC Director, Neithongulie Pienyu informed that even before the lockdown, as the disease first emerged in the country, the hospital staff has been strictly maintaining social distancing, proper sanitisation and compulsorily using masks.
It reiterated that the COVID-19 virus does not spread by air or water. “It is spread by direct contact with infected person or droplets which are infective up to a distance of 3 to 4 feet of an infected patient while coughing or sneezing,” the hospital stated. It said that keeping a tenant working in the hospital in anyone’s house “is not a risk provided he or she wears a mask or sanitises their hands regularly, which we have been following all this while.”