Srinagar: State authorities in Ladakh are mulling action against a doctor who allegedly leaked an official letter about suspected coronavirus cases last month.

The region’s health department has set up a four-member committee to probe how communication between a medical superintendent at Sonam Norboo Memorial Hospital (SNMH) in Leh to the chief medical officer of Leh found itself in the public domain.

“Two persons were the suspects. Subsequently, a medical officer was found responsible for leaking the letter,” an official told The Wire, adding that the committee has submitted its report to Phuntsog Angchuk, Ladakh’s director of health.

However, he said “action” against the doctor had been delayed as the department was busy attending to the cases of two people who tested positive for the coronavirus’s COVID-19 disease over the weekend.

A different official said the doctor had publicised the letter with “good intention”, because he wanted to create awareness of the coronavirus outbreak in the region.

“It is bizarre the way authorities have reacted, given that governments worldwide have been emphasising making people aware about the infection,” the official said.

The director confirmed he has received a copy of the report from the panel. “They have named the medical officer in their report. He is from Leh. We will take action against him,” he said.

The communiqué dated February 18 is entitled “report regarding the patient who showed coronavirus-like symptoms” and discusses the conditions of a few patients currently in quarantine.

Tsering Angchuk, who was the medical superintendent of the hospital that time, said he was surprised to receive complaints of three cases with similar symptoms and all with no travel history.

“We were trying to investigate the symptoms. Then I got two more cases, and to rule out everything, I suggested sending their samples for coronavirus tests,” Angchuk told The Wire. “But I was told that the patients don’t fulfil the criteria [for coronavirus tests] since they had no travel history.”

So, he said, he decided to send a letter to the chief medical officer of Leh to ensure the cases were registered on record.

But when the letter was subsequently leaked, it led to panic in the landlocked region, prompting the administration to issue an official statement saying two persons had tested negative for the new coronavirus.

Dr Motup Dorje, the chief medical officer of Leh, said the “truth” behind the letter was that the medical superintendent wanted to inform the authorities that there were two suspected coronavirus patients. “But due to some confusion, he connected these two cases to [a] patient who had expired earlier.”

The Ladakh region shares a border with China, from whose Hubei province the new coronavirus emerged in early December 2019. Ladakh has a total population of 2.74 lakh. It was separated from Jammu and Kashmir on August 5 last year under the J&K Reorganisation Act 2019, when the Centre scrapped J&K’s special status.

Since the letter became public, hospitals in the region have admitted multiple patients with symptoms of COVID-19; some 130 people are currently under quarantine. The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the region stands at three.

Health officials confirmed two cases, a 65-year-old man and a 75-year-old man, both from Leh on Saturday. Another case, a woman from Kargil, tested positive this morning. All three had recently returned from Iran.

“There is strict surveillance now and people are coming forward to report [their] symptoms,” Angchuk said. “There is a lot of action on the ground now.”