Infant dies of Covid, refractory shock
Phagwara girl was admitted to PGI; 18 doctors among 54 health workers test negative
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Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 23
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A six-month-old girl from Phagwara, who tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, died at 12:47 pm at the PGI here today.
Sigh of relief
Six-month-old patient’s all contacts, family members and health care workers have been reported negative for Covid and all have been quarantined. As many as 54 health care workers at the Advanced Paediatrics Centre — 18 doctors, 15 nursing officers, 13 hospital attendants/sanitation attendants, two physiotherapists and six technicians — were exposed to the virus while treating the baby girl.
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“The cause of the death was reported to be refractory shock, pulmonary artery hypertension and Covid-19,” read an official statement of the PGI. The baby was admitted to the Advanced Paediatrics Centre of the PGI on April 9 with congenital malformations of atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect, patent ductus arteriosis and coarctation of aorta.
She had remained hospitalised at a corporate hospital in Ludhiana for 36 days and was subsequently referred to the PGI for corrective surgery.
The patient was very sick and was not fit for surgical interventions for reported pathologies. She was kept on a ventilator and required medication. Since the patient’s condition deteriorated over the days, she was tested for Covid before performing an open heart surgery on her.
On Thursday, the patient’s condition deteriorated further and she expired. The last rituals of the baby were coordinated through the Red Cross, UT. MC Commissioner KK Yadav said the baby was cremated in the electric crematorium in Sector 25.
‘Universal screening of patients must’
As the baby did not have any suggestive travel history or family contact, she did not fulfil the requirements for pre-emptive screening at the PGI, leading to health workers getting exposed.
The Faculty Association of PGI, through the public relations officer of the institute, has highlighted that Covid infection among health care workers ranges from 10 to 20 per cent across the world. The association highlighted that in order to prevent the Covid spread among health care workers, all patients visiting the PGI should be universally screened/tested for the virus with an immediate effect.
“We are aware that the PGI administration is putting efforts for provision of mask/PPE kits as per the guidelines but there are still issues related to equitable distribution, which need to be resolved,” stated JS Thakur, president of the association.
Sec 18 woman’s contacts test negative
The samples of a total of 21 contacts of the Sector 18 woman have turned out to be negative for Covid. Meanwhile, the Chandigarh contacts of a positive case of Nayagaon, who was sampled at the GMSH-16 on Wednesday, too turned out to be negative. Nine more city contacts of the same patient were sampled at the GMSH on Thursday
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