Wockhardt Hospital

Covid-19 patients

Covid-19 positive

Covid-19 cases

With three patients and a nurse getting infected by coronavirus, Mulund’s Spandan Hospital has become the latest hospital in the city to shut down temporarily. The first case at the private hospital was of a Ghatkopar woman who had been admitted there. Now, 65 doctors, nurses and other staffers at the hospital have been put in quarantine and their samples have been sent for testing.With almost the entire staff in quarantine, the 30-bed hospital has shut down its OPD and there are no new admissions, BMC officials said.The BMC has already markedand Jaslok Hospital as containment zones. The two hospitals were designated as treatment centres for coronavirus patients but the BMC is not referring any newthere for treatment. Over the last week, 26 nurses and three doctors have tested positive for Covid-19 at Wockhardt, but that number grew to 52 on Monday. Swabs of over 270 hospital staff and some patients have been sent for tests from Wockhardt Hospital.According to BMC officials, a senior citizen from Ghatkopar was detected to beat Spandan Hospital, from where she was moved to a private hospital in Powai, where she died. Days later, another 80-yearold Badlapur woman was infected by coronavirus at the hospital and she also succumbed.Meanwhile a nurse of the hospital tested positive too.On Wednesday, another patient who was at Spandan Hospital but was moved to another private hospital in Mulund tested positive.“We have taken samples of 65 doctors, nurses and staffers at Spandan Hospital. All of them are in quarantine and so the hospital is not taking any new patients. But the hospital is shut down at the moment,” said Kishore Gandhi, Assistant Municipal Commissioner, T Ward. Deputy Municipal Commissioner Vijay Balamwar said that the BMC will take a call on putting the hospital in a containment zone if there are more positive cases.BMC officials said that the patient who tested positive on Wednesday was moved to another hospital when Spandan Hospital shut down. “Doctors and nurses at Spandan Hospital didn’t have PPEs and other protective gear while handing Covid-19 patients. They may have been exposed to the infection and one nurse tested positive. But the other hospital where this patient was moved was prepared to deal with Covid-19 patients. We are assessing the risk there too,” Gandhi said.So far, 10have been reported from Mulund, which has large residential pockets. Based on the index cases, 118 high-risk patients have been identified, said local BJP MLA Mihir Kotecha. “The last three positive cases were people who were already marked as high risk. The BMC is doing a good job and we are cooperating with them in contact tracing and tracking. We have asked people to maintain strict lockdown. If they do that, the spread of the virus in Mulund will not happen.”Spandan Hospital management said that no new staff members have tested positive. “Only 1 nurse had tested positive. All the other staff have tested negative. All the staff members were quarantined. Some of them have completed their quarantine. We have stopped new admissions and the hospital is shut for now,” said Dr Shashi Adsul, head of hospital administration at Spandan Hospital.