Covid scare hits three major hospitals in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: Two major hospitals in south Kerala are under a Covid scare flowing an accident.

A patient in Kollam, who had come from Dubai and was a Covid suspect and under quarantine, ventured out without informing the authorities and met with a car accident in the wee hours of today.

The police rushed him to the Kollam General Hospital, but since his condition was serious, he was shifted to the Medical College Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. He did not reveal that he was a Covid suspect and under quarantine.

At the medical college hospital, he underwent a CT scan, dental scan and doctors tried to remove the accumulated fluids from his lungs. It was only then that the family revealed that the patient was a Covid suspect.

Following this, over 40 people including doctors, paramedical staff in the two hospitals, the policemen and ambulance drivers were sent to home quarantine. The patient was also present briefly in the general ward which was later evacuated.

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The patient has been shifted to the ICU of the isolation ward and his samples have been sent for testing. “If the tests prove positive, all the 40 people who were exposed to the patient would have to undergo mandatory quarantine,” sources said.

Meanwhile, services at the premier Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences in Thiruvananthapuram were badly affected when a doctor who had returned from Spain after attending a course today tested positive for Covid. He had interacted with patients and other doctors.

Following this, the institute stopped all routine surgeries and service and sent the doctors and others to a 14-day quarantine.