SHILLONG: At a time when COVID cases are gradually rising, allegations of mismanagement and negligence have surfaced against the Civil Hospital Shillong, which is considered to be playing a major role in the present pandemic situation.
Sources said that two persons — one nurse and a man who was attending to a patient — had tested positive because a suspected case of COVID-19 was kept in the general ward.
The doctors suspected one CRPF personnel to be infected as he was going through difficulties in breathing but kept in the general ward. Nonetheless, the test later revealed that he was COVID positive and he was then shifted to the observation ward, sources said.
Question was raised whether the nurses working in the general ward were made to undergo quarantine or they worked regularly.
The nurses are also not provided with personal protective equipment (PPE).
A health official, when contacted, said that all patients in the general ward tested negative and are currently undergoing quarantine.
“The COVID and non-COVID patients have been segregated. Contact tracing is under way”, the official said.
Asked about the nurses and ward boys and girls not wearing PPE, the official said if precautions are taken, the protective gear is not necessary, while adding that providing PPE to all is not possible.
“Health workers are always at risks and it is not only from COVID-19. PPE is not necessary if precautions such as wearing of masks and sanitisation are done. All necessary precautions should be taken”, the official said, adding that those working in COVID wards are undergoing quarantine.
Providing PPE to all is not possible as it is a matter of resources, but if the health workers are considered working in high-risk conditions, then they are provided PPE, the official added.