Officials blame clerical error for discharge of COVID-19 patient

An employee reportedly made a wrong entry of the patient’s result

10/04/2020, S. PRASAD,VILLUPURAM

The Villupuram Government Medical College and Hospital T. SingaravelouT. Singaravelou

A day after the COVID-19 test results of a Delhi-based man turned out positive after he was released from quarantine at the Villupuram Government Hospital, the Health Department authorities in Villupuram claimed that a “clerical error” had led to the incident.

Top sources in the Health Department, on condition of anonymity, said the patient, aged 30, had come to Puducherry to attend an interview last month after which he reached Villupuram. He was staying in a Villupuram Red Cross facility when he developed fever and was admitted to the Villupuram Government Hospital on April 6.

“The treatment protocol for COVID-19 testing was followed and the throat swabs of the patient along with test samples of others were sent to the Villupuram Government Medical College and Hospital (VGMCH) at Mundiyambakkam here for testing the same day. While the test results of three others had come positive, the results of the Delhi man were pending and inconclusive. As per protocol, patients who had tested negative should be sent to the facility or home quarantine while the second round of confirmatory tests had to be taken for tests which were inconclusive or pending,” an official said.

The staff in the hospital, while feeding the results into the computer had made an error and mentioned his test results as negative. Based on this, the patient was discharged. The man was taken in a 108 ambulance to the quarantine facility operated by the Red Cross, from where he went missing.

Health Department officials said that that a minimum of 15 to 20 samples were sent every day to the hospital. “The department has requested the staff in the hospital to be more cautious to prevent such incidents,” an official said.

Meanwhile, the Villupuram district police have constituted seven special teams and intensified surveillance across the district to trace the man.