Thiruvananthapuram: Sri Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Thiruvananthauram, has virtually shut down after it was confirmed on Sunday that a radiologist who had returned from Spain had tested positive for coronavirus. Sources said senior doctors of at least six core departments have been asked to isolate themselves in their homes.
Departments have been asked to prune the outpatient and inpatient services depending on the staff strength available. Departments have also been asked to strictly avoid new admissions. Major surgical procedures like like Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson's patients have been postponed, and patients have been told to shift back home.
The SCTIMST authorities said the primary and secondary contacts have been identified with the help of health officials. It is said that among the primary contacts are doctors, patients and bystanders. The families of doctors, considered secondary contacts, are also under intense surveillance.
The radiologist had landed in Thiruvananthapuram on March 1 without any symptoms. Since Spain was then not in the list of high-risk countries, the doctor reported for duty the very next day at the Digital Subtraction Angiography lab. The Union Health Ministry advisory on February 26 had not listed Spain as high-risk. Suspecting nothing, the radiologist worked his usual hours till March 5.
Being a senior radiologist, the doctor is said to have had close interaction with surgeons in the core departments during these days. He is said to have been on leave for two days after March 5. It was on March 8 that he developed symptoms. Sources in SCTIMST said the doctor had reported his symptoms to health officials and had also informed them of his travel history. The source said the doctor was still not advised home quarantine, and therefore he attended the highly crowded outpatient clinic on March 10 and 11.
Health experts say this was highly irresponsible as Spain had by then gone into a near complete lock down; by March 10 there were over 150 dead in Spain. “The doctor himself should have gone on a self-imposed isolation. He should have been more thoughtful,” a top Health Department official said.
A bystander of a patient waiting for a Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) procedure is also feared to have been infected. The bystander was not infected by the Spain-returned doctor but has likely got infected from Kuwait from where he had arrived recently. The person has now been isolated in the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College. The bystander's contact list has also been drawn up. Both the doctors and the bystanders' contact map is expected to be published soon.
The patient, for whom the DBS was scheduled to be done this week, has been shifted to his home. He will be informed about the new operation date later.