The mess of the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) has been shut down after two post-graduate students, who were treating COVID-19 patients at ESI Medical College Hospital in Coimbatore, were tested positive for coronavirus.
The students were tested positive on Monday and fearing a spread of infection, the staff members of the mess closed it down and the management has been forced to arrange food from outside for the PG students and doctors at the hospital.
According to Dr Ashokan, the Dean of Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, “Some of the PG students were on duty from April 2 to April 5, treating COVID-19 patients at ESI Medical College Hospital campus. After that, the students were under quarantine at ESI itself. During the quarantine period, two students developed cough and fever symptoms and went to ESI. They gave throat swabs on Sunday and they were tested positive on Monday. All other PG students and mess workers got worried on hearing this. The mess workers, fearing the spread of infection, went on leave from Monday night.”
Bringing the issue to the notice of the dean, members of CRRI (Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internship) council wrote a letter to the Dean which has gone viral on social media. The letter written by the CRRI council urged the Dean to arrange for food and water at the earliest as basic needs were shut down without prior notice. According to Dr Ashokan, “The management immediately arranged food for them on Monday night and Tuesday.”
The letter also caught the attention of Tamil Nadu Health Secretary Beela Rajesh, who also assured that the issue would be resolved soon.
‘Kicked off WhatsApp group for asking for HCQ’
Meanwhile, another screenshot that was doing the rounds on social media alleged that the two infected students were removed from a WhatsApp group for asking the hospital authorities to provide hydroxychloroquine (HCQ). It is also not known whether the students were provided with proper personal protective equipment (PPE) at the ESI medical hospital.
According to the screenshot of the WhatsApp conversation that went viral, the students had said, “We are isolated here and feeling helpless sir. Please provide HCQ, we have fever from evening.”
A source close to the infected students said, “The doctor received the shot on Sunday night itself from ESI Dean but the conversation was made viral for no reason.”
However, Sadagopan, the CMCH's Medical Superintendent and the admin of the WhatsApp group, has claimed that the screenshot has been morphed.
“The two students are doctors who are doing their final year post-graduation. The drug HCQ was provided to them even when they went for duty. One doctor took HCQ on April 4. However, when I inquired on Monday, they initially said both of them were taking the medicine. However, we came to know later that one of them did not take HCQ. The infected doctor was in ESI hospital so we immediately informed them. The ESI officials administered the tablet to him,” Dean Ashokan said.
On the issue of the students being kicked out of the WhatsApp group, the dean said, “The WhatsApp group was meant only for the faculty but the students were wrongly added. So we removed them,” he said.