6 docs among 10 +ve since Nov 29 at city med college

6 docs among 10 +ve since Nov 29 at city med college

LAX PROTOCOL? Concern Growing Over Breakthrough Cases At Vydehi Institute, Other Hospitals Across The State

Sunitha.Rao@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru: 09.12.2021

In continuing breakthrough infections, 10 healthcare workers, including six doctors, from Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) Mahadevapura zone tested positive for Covid-19 since November 29.

Samples from four of them, who had a high viral load, have been sent for genomic sequencing and reports are awaited. Hospital authorities say this should not be viewed as a cluster outbreak since all cases did not happen at once.

While none of them have travel history, sources say they may have contracted the infection from the community. The index case, a 54-yearold doctor, came under BBMP’s scanner on November 29 and the Palike has since conducted 204 tests in the hospital and the attached medical college hostel.

Sources say that the medical college hospital had a closed-door meeting with all staff on December 2. “Despite having a severe cough, a doctor who had given samples for the Covid test, attended the meeting. That evening, the result showed she was positive for Covid and the doctor stopped coming to work from December 3.”

“Primary and secondary contacts in the hostel, departments of paediatrics and oncology have been tested. Of the 10, three were hospitalised and have recovered,” said R Venkatachalapathy, joint commissioner, Mahadevapura. All of them are currently in home isolation.

Dr Ravindra Reddy, nodal officer for Covid, Vydehi, while insisting that this should not be classified as a cluster, said: “We didn’t have all 10 cases at the same time. While testing contacts, some returned positive for the disease. Some are from the hostel and had not had any contact with Covid-19 positive doctors. These are all isolated cases.”

He said that at present, all 10 are fine and that most of them had no symptoms. BBMP authorities said a repeat RT-PCR test will be conducted at the Vydehi campus on Friday (December 10). Sources say the wife of a Covid-19 positive doctor from Vydehi, who works at another private medical college in north Bengaluru, has also tested positive. However, this could not be confirmed with authorities at the medical college where she works.

Given that all 10 were fully vaccinated, the cases raise concerns about healthcare workers, who have taken both doses of the vaccine, contracting the infection. Staffers in other medical institutions in Bengaluru and across the state, who were fully vaccinated, have also tested positive.

About a fortnight ago, in one of the biggest clusters in recent times, more than 300 students at SDM College of Medical Sciences in Dharwad district tested positive.

At Nimhans, of the 826 Covid tests conducted so far this month, four people — two staffers and two family members of one of the staffers — had tested positive. Dr Muralidharan Kesavan, medical superintendent, Nimhans, said that these routine tests conducted in the hospital have not shown any alarming rise in cases: The positivity rate has been less than 0.5%. In November, there were five positive cases, including patients and staffers, and in October there were a total 12 cases, Kesavan said.

Prior to this, Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research had seen five of its doctors testing positive in the third week of November. Dr C Nagaraj, Covid technical advisory committee member and director of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases, says there’s a need to conduct reorientation sessions for healthcare workers on maintaining Covid-appropriate behaviour.

“In our hospital, one doctor tested positive in November but none of his contacts tested positive. I feel that there is a need to reorientate staff on Covid-appropriate behaviour such as always wearing a mask,” Dr Nagaraj said.

GETTING THE JOB DONE: A healthcare worker administers a dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at a roadside camp in Bengaluru on Wednesday