Two doctors and 8 other healthcare workers at the Lal Ded (LD) Hospital, Kashmir’s only tertiary care maternity facility, have been quarantined after a pregnant woman who was referred there in alleged violation of norms tested positive for novel coronavirus.
Sources told here that the woman who hails from the COVID-19 “red zone” area of Trehwani, Achabal, was refused treatment at Maternity Hospital Sheerbagh Anantnag and referred to SKIMS Bemina after she arrived there on Friday evening.
“She has also turned away from SKIMS Bemina and referred to LD Hospital for treatment,” the sources said.
Fearing she might be refused treatment for the third time, the woman’s attendants hid her two previous referrals and the fact that she hailed from a red zone area of Anantnag.
“Being asymptomatic, she was admitted to the hospital around 3:00 am on Saturday and had a normal delivery in the afternoon. However, we were taken aback when health officials from Achabal informed us that she had tested positive for coronavirus,” a doctor at the LD Hospital told.
According to guidelines, pregnant women in all red zones are to be screened for coronavirus and “samples to be taken beyond 34 weeks of gestation/well before the expected date of delivery (EDD) so that the delivery of such pregnant ladies can be conducted in a safe manner.”
“This is sheer negligence on part of Maternity Hospital Sheerbagh and SKIMS Bemina as they have put at risk staff members and patients at the Valley’s only tertiary care hospital. So far, we have quarantined 10 of our staff members including two doctors,” a senior official of LD Hospital said. (GNS)
