Cuttack: Following 14 staffers of SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) Cuttack being found COVID-19 positive Wednesday, the central intensive care unit (CICU) located at the Casualty department on its fourth floor was announced shut Thursday morning.
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According to reports, 31 staffers excluding medical professionals work here, of which 20 staffers have tested positive for COVID-19. Under compulsion, SCBMCH authorities took the decision to keep it closed for the coming week, after swab reports of these staffers came out positive.
11 of the infected persons are attendants, two are pharmacists and one is a security guard. All the infected staffers have been kept in isolation rooms of SCBMCH, SCBMCH official sources informed.
This has sparked resentment among others working in the ICU. It is known that, there are 13 grade IV employees working here. As swab samples of few of them were sent for COVID-19 testing a day before, more swab samples will be sent within coming two days.
On the other hand, entire Casualty ward will be sanitised during coming week. The in-house patients of this 30-bed ICU have been shifted to relevant departments. Patients who are in critical conditions have been shifted to other ICUs in SCBMCH, the sources said.
Notably, the much hyped conjoined twins duo Jaga-Balia are being treated at a cabin near trauma-care department in the second floor. Even though COVID-19 infected staffers were detected in the same hospital building, both the twins are safe, the hospital sources asserted.
PNN