At Lok Nayak Hospital on Thursday. (Express photo: Amit Mehra) At Lok Nayak Hospital on Thursday. (Express photo: Amit Mehra)

Sixty-eight staff members of Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital in Northwest Delhi have been asked to go on home quarantine after a 25-year-old patient and a suspected COVID-19 case died on Wednesday night. The staff members include 20 doctors, 21 nursing orderlies, OT technicians, housekeeping staff and security guards.

A resident of Shakarpur, the woman was admitted to the hospital on April 13 with a ruptured ectopic pregnancy and underwent an emergency laparotomy. She was then shifted to the ICU.

According to the hospital administration, the woman did not disclose her travel history or inform them that she was under home quarantine as suggested by the district magistrate.

“Even after repeated verbal queries, she did not inform the hospital staff about her quarantine period and travel history… she submitted wrong information. During treatment, her condition deteriorated and she was kept on ventilator support,” said a senior doctor at the hospital.

The patient later revealed her travel history and her exposure to COVID-19 positive co-travelers.

“She and her four family members were asked to observe home quarantine from April 10-24 by the district magistrate. She did not tell us this when she was admitted in the hospital, hence putting the lives of other people at risk. Her condition deteriorated and she died on April 15. Since she was admitted to the ICU, we have also asked the staff posted in the ICU ward to go for home quarantine,” said an official at the hospital in a letter to the health department.

In Delhi, 55 healthcare workers have tested positive for COVID-19 so far. Many hospitals in the city have asked their staff members to go for home isolation in case a patient tests positive for the disease.

On Wednesday, Max Healthcare announced that it will test all its 24,000 healthcare workers and patients admitted in various hospitals across the country.

At Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, COVID-19 tests were conducted on all 115 healthcare workers who were quarantined two weeks ago. Of them, only three had tested positive.

On Thursday, 25 staff members at Lok Nayak Hospital were also quarantined after a resident doctor posted in the ICU ward tested positive for COVID-19.

“We are tracing the doctor’s contact history. He was posted in the ICU ward and stayed at the nursing house. Everyone who came in contact with the doctor will be tested… a final list is being prepared,” said Dr J C Passey, medical director of Lok Nayak Hospital. Earlier, two nurses and a doctor had tested positive at the hospital.

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