A few days ago, a doctor at AIIMS was found infected with the novel Wuhan coronavirus. His wife was in her ninth month of pregnancy. The woman doctor and her brother were also found infected from the coronavirus. It is now being alleged that the doctor’s identity has been withheld because he is a Muslim. The employees working at the AIIMS are resentful as to why the doctor hid his illness. The Doctor is a resident of Malviya Nagar where he used to frequent to the mosque nearby. It is being speculated that perhaps he picked up the infection from the mosque after coming in contact with one of the infected Tablighi Jamaat attendees visiting the mosque.

Despite the overt symptoms, he kept going to the mosque daily and also boarded the institute bus to come to the AIIMS. Media reports claimed that the doctor would have caught the infection from his patients but this is not the case since he was not involved in the treatment of coronavirus infected patients. There is seething anger amongst the hospital staff who feel that the doctor was deliberately trying to spread the malady to others. All the employees who travelled with him on the bus, along with the driver of the bus have been quarantined. According to people, being a doctor and despite knowing the gravity of the disease, he allowed the contagion to spread.

One of the nurses working in AIIMS claimed that despite the doctor’s apparent mistake, he is being made a hero by the media. Media reports have attributed the source of his contagion to his treatment of sick patients. However, this has not been the case. The nurse did not reveal the doctor’s identity but said that he is a senior resident in the Physiology Department. On the condition of anonymity, one of the medical workers employed at the AIIMS said:

“In view of the coronavirus outbreak, all the necessary precautions and social distancing measures were taken even on the buses. People were seated far and wide, so fewer people used to go. The doctor was aware that he had the contagion. But he hid this information and kept coming to the hospital on the same bus. There was also a WhatsApp group of people who came on the bus. When his infection was confirmed, people started asking him on Whatsapp why did he come on the bus and he kept apologising to them.”

The hospital staff is thoroughly miffed with the doctor for deliberately concealing his illness and jeopardising their lives. According to our sources in AIIMS, the matter has been referred to director Randeep Guleria and the hospital staff expects that an exemplary action will be taken against the culprit by the director. The staff believes that an action against the doctor is in order as the AIIMS has very strict rules and regulations regarding infectious diseases. All the employees have to mandatorily abide by them. Negligence has no place and someone who is found guilty of it is punished according to the hospital rules.

#Update: A resident doctor of AIIMS who was tested positive for COVID19 earlier today, his 9 months pregnant wife (a doctor posted at Emergency) has also been tested positive. She has been isolated and her delivery will take place at AIIMS. https://t.co/2e6lZ3NBua — ANI (@ANI) April 2, 2020

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It is being bandied about by several media outlets that since the infected doctor has no travel history, he was infected with the coronavirus while treating the patients. It is being claimed that the infection was passed on to the wife through the doctor husband, after which all the people suspected to have come in contact with both have been quarantined. The doctor was initially admitted in the Emergency ward. After several tests and medical examinations, the doctor was admitted to the private ward.