More doctors at Chennai's Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital test positive, hostel shut

The development comes just days after the cardiology department was shut down after four PG doctors there tested positive.

Published: 27th April 2020 05:10 AM |

By Sinduja Jane

Express News Service

CHENNAI: In a major development, the men’s hostel of PG doctors at the Madras Medical College in the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH), has been shut down after a sweeper there tested positive for COVID-19.

Subsequently, the management tested 102 PG doctors who were staying there, and the hospital dean R Jayanthi told Express that two of them tested positive. However, a press statement sent later in the evening claimed the results of the two doctors are pending. 

The development comes just days after the cardiology department was shut down after four PG doctors there tested positive. Earlier on Saturday, six cancer patients and two staff nurses tested positive at a cancer hospital in the city, sparking fresh concerns.

Sources told Express the infection began at the RGGGH. A patient who was diagnosed with cancer at the RGGGH was referred to this hospital for a chemotherapy session. “However, he also had COVID-19. Five other patients and two nurses have caught the infection from him,” sources said.

“All the eight positive patients are undergoing treatment at a government hospital. The unit in which the patient was admitted was closed and disinfection works were carried out,” sources added.

The patient is believed to have contracted the infection at the cardiology department of RGGGH where he initially went for treatment.

Meanwhile, PG doctors staying in the men’s hostel have been moved to an alternative facility. They have all been placed under isolation.

“We are still trying to treat non-COVID patients with available strength. We are not referring patients elsewhere,” hospital dean Jayanthi claimed.

“We still have enough PG doctors. Also, the number of patients is low. So the posted strength must be sufficient. Again, we don’t want to expose too many doctors to the infection,” Jayanthi said. Hospital sources, however, say trainee MBBS doctors are also under quarantine. “A majority of PG doctors, other than those on COVID duty, are under quarantine,” they added.

A doctor working with another hospital confirmed that patients with cardiac conditions and other ailments were being referred from RGGGH to his hospital for the last one week.

“Even for regular tablets they are referred here,” the doctor said. Yet another doctor, working with a separate government medical college in the city, said the staff at his hospital were being overburdened because of many cases being referred there from RGGGH.

Several doctors Express caught up with at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital lamented that the hospital had failed to give them proper protective gears. “This is the primary reason for the spread of infection,” a practitioner claimed.

Is RGGGH turning into a hotspot?

At least nine doctors, two staff nurses, two patients, and one pharmacist at the RGGGH have tested positive, according to multiple sources