According to sources, in India, around 50 doctors and medical staff have been tested positive for coronovirus which has caused concerns in the Union Health Ministry. The Health Ministry is trying to evaluate the situation and determine whether these doctors and medical staff are infected by coronavirus positive patients.

A senior official in the Health Ministry said that they are trying to understand if these medical staff are infected by the patients or had any contact history from outside the work space.

The official explained that among the 50 cases of medical staff been positive, a few of them were not involved in treating coronavirus patients.

The government has started tracing contacts of these cases to exactly evaluate the reason for getting infected. It was found that due to shortage of personal protective equipment’s (PPE) at the hospitals, the doctors and medical staff might have become vulnerable to COVID-19 patients while treating them.

To meet the shortages, the defense public sector and other private sectors are roped in to manufacture of PPE on large scale for people and the medical professionals.

The government has concerns that as the number of coronavirus cases are increasing in the country, the most susceptible sector are the medical community involved in treating these patients.

A Colonel-rank Indian Army doctor was tested positive for coronavirus at the Army Command Hospital in Kolkata on 29th March. The officer, has been put under quarantine and all the necessary precautions are taken for his colleagues too. The Colonel-rank doctor was serving at the Command Hospital, Kolkata. The Army has traced all who might have come in contact with him and have been quarantined.

One Delhi-based doctor from the Central Reserve Police Force had tested positive of coronavirus on 1st April. The doctor has been admitted to AIIMS in Haryanas Jhajjar.

A resident doctor of the AIIMS, Delhi, and his 9 months pregnant wife are tested positive for coronavirus. The doctor was posted at the physiology department of AIIMS and was the first to show symptoms. Later, his wife was brought in and now both are tested positive. The family members and close contacts of the couple are isolated and screened and contact tracing protocol has been initiated.

Source: ET Healthworld