Positive case tally up by 22 in Ludhiana district

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 18

A total of 22 positive cases of Covid-19 were reported in the district today. They include six undertrials at Borstal Jail, two accused arrested by the police, two employees of Civil Hospital, two Railway Protection Force employees, one contact of a positive patient and four flu corner patients. Five cases are yet to be traced by the Health Department.

After the two accused tested positive, eight policemen of Ludhiana were asked to home-quarantine.

One of the accused, a resident of Gopal Nagar, was arrested for an unnatural offence. He, along with five policemen of the Haibowal station, have been asked to home-quarantine for 14 days.

“A Sub-inspector, an ASI and three constables of the Haibowal police station have been home-quarantined,” said ADCP, Sachin Gupta, who is nodal officer of Covid of Ludhiana Police.

Another accused who has tested positive was arrested by the bus stand police for allegedly raping a 17-year-old girl. Three policemen who arrested him have been home-quarantined. Seven policemen of this police station, including the SHO, are already quarantined after a boy tested positive posthumously.

Panic grips staff of Civil Hospital, MCH

Meanwhile, panic has gripped staff and employees of Civil Hospital and Mother and Child Hospital after four Class IV employees, who are ward attendants, tested positive. Two of them had tested positive yesterday.

The Senior Medical Officer of Civil Hospital, Dr Geeta Kataria, said two Class IV employees tested positive today after which they were quarantined.

A woman who was on duty in the trauma ward and a man who was on duty in the isolation ward tested positive today. A 44-year-old man on duty in the isolation ward of Civil Hospital and a woman who was on duty in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Mother and Child Hospital had tested positive yesterday. Both hospitals are on the same premises.

The samples of the entire staff of both hospitals, including Class IV employees, nursing staff, ward attendants and safai karamcharis, are being collected. The neonatal ICU has 7-8 newborn babies at any given day.

Today, Class IV employees of the Civil Hospital and the nursing staff staged a protest. of Rs 4,500-6,500 per month. We have been demanding a hike in salary for a long time, but to no avail. We have again sent a letter to the Chief Minister in this regard,” said a ward attendant.

A Class IV employee, who was on duty at the Mother and Child Hospital, said the MCH had turned into a high-risk zone. “Some patients directly go to the labour room for delivery and there is no information whether they are Covid positive. The staff wear only masks and gloves while no PPE has been provided to them,” he said.

Dr Geeta Kataria, Senior Medical Officer of Civil Hospital, said: “We are collecting samples of every employee in the hospital,” she said.

Hospitals operational

A few people are still unaware that hospitals are working as before with regular OPDs being held and operations done with full precautions. Dr Jatinder Arora, COO of SPS Hospital, said the OPDs and emergency wing of the hospital had always been working and that full precautions were taken to prevent exposure of cases of flu (suspected Covid-19) and the rest of patients. He said PPE kits were available in wards and OTs for use of doctors and staff even in case of suspected cases.

Doctors for Peace and Development unhappy

The Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD) has expressed anguish at sidelining of health in the packages announced by the Finance Minister. Dr SS Soodan, president of IDPD; Dr Arun Mitra, senior vice-president; and Dr Shakeel Ur Rahman, general secretary said the Finance Minister only provided a breakup of the package of Rs 15,000 crore already announced by the Prime Minister, of which Rs 4,000 crore has already been spent. The health sector needs over Rs 1 lakh crore immediately in this crisis and thereafter it has to be a continuous process in budget. While the Finance Minister has said infectious diseases blocks and test labs will be built at the district level, there is no detail as to how much will be the allocation for this.

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