Lokhat Hospital shut after ambulance driver tests positive

The 40-year-old ambulance driver developed some complications like fever and sneezing Tuesday morning. He was taken to the New Civil Hospital from Lokhat hospital for treatment. The doctors kept him in an isolation ward and quarantined him. In the evening, he tested positive for coronavirus.

Soon after the news of the ambulance driver’s report spread, Lokhat hospital staffers refused to report to work from the next day fearing contracting the infection.

Sources said that on Tuesday, there were 25 patients admitted in the hospital in different wards, while the OPD was cancelled. All these patients were shifted to other hospitals in the city for further treatment. By Tuesday night, the entire hospital was emptied.

The SMC authorities started disinfecting the entire hospital on Wednesday. Two doctors of Lokhat hospital who came in contact with the driver were also quarantined at Mission hospital, while three of his room-mates are quarantined at Samaras Centre in Vesu, said sources in Lokhat Hosptial.

Talking to The Indian Express, one of the trustees of Lokhat Hospital, Ahmed Amla said, “We have shifted all the patients to other hospitals. The health department officials have taken samples of some of the staffers for examination. There are about 250 staffers, including doctors, in the hospital. We will keep the hospital shut till April 13, as this will give us time to see if any of our staffers develop any complication.”