GMCH to ramp up testing to minimise risk of infection among health workers

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 10

In view of the increasing number of asymptomatic positive cases and recent incidences of virus exposure among healthcare workers, the Government Medical College Hospital, Sector 32, has decided to ramp up testing with an automatic extraction machine.

The institute has felt the need for altering the sampling guidelines as with the resumption of medical services after the lockdown, the chances of infection among healthcare workers will increase manifolds. “Whenever routine medical and surgical services are restored, which is likely to happen soon after the lockdown, the number of cases needing procedures and other treatment will increase,” read a document from the GMCH.

The feasibility of Covid testing of all those admitted to the GMCH through emergency service was deliberated upon by the committee constituted by the Director-Principal to avoid infection among healthcare workers during a meeting convened by Dr Jagdish Chander, Professor and Head of the Department of Microbiology.

Recommendations

The challenge is that with the change in the guidelines for sampling, the number of samples will increase significantly. The committee was of an opinion that an automatic extraction machine can be procured to evade manual extraction and to expedite the processing of samples.

As per the current protocol, only those are being tested who are either examined in the screening OPD or are considered relevant as per the guidelines.

All patients admitted to medicine emergency, requiring admission to the Psychiatry Department, will be tested, besides those admitted to the Obstetrics Gynecology Department requiring any surgical intervention.

It has been decided that all patients requiring surgical intervention or any other invasive procedure such as angioplasty and endoscopy will be tested. However, patients in need of life-saving surgery will be treated irrespective of whether the sample has been taken for Covid or not.

A coordinating officer from all departments concerned will be appointed to identify those in need of testing.

8 workers exposed to virus

As many as eight health workers from the GMCH have been exposed to Covid as they were posted in the ward where 30-year-old attendant from Bapu Dham Colony, who tested positive, was working. These include three resident women doctors, a nursing officer from Sector 32, a ward boy from Mani Majra, a housekeeping staff and an OT technician.