NEIGRIHMS shuts down temporarily after exposure to COVID-19

 This came after a patient from BSF camp at Umpling was admitted at the hospital’s non-COVID ward and later tested positive for coronavirus.

Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong told reporters on Friday that the issue related to the temporary closure of NEIGRIHMS was discussed in today’s review meeting.

“The hospital authority has communicated its decision to the government and now they are on the job to trace the high risk contacts and sanitize the respective wards. We have asked them to speed up the process so that services to people be immediately resumed,” he said.

Asked, Tynsong however said that the question of lapses on the part of the hospital does not arise. “The patient was tested negative eight days ago and when he became symptomatic unfortunately he came out to be COVID-19 positive. The hospital authority is on the job to ensure there is no spread.”

Informing the decision to close down the hospital, the Director of NEIGRIHMS Dr P Battacharyya said that there has been an inadvertent exposure to COVID-19 in NEIGRIHMS on July 9.

“The patient, a resident of BSF, Umpling had a RT-PCR test done on July 1, which was negative. He was subsequently admitted to the orthopedics ward (non-COVID ward) on July 4, based on his recent report. He developed fever during his stay and on July 9, a report RT-PCR was done which was positive. The patient has now been shifted to the COVID ward,” said the Director.

Stating that the patient has had an extensive contact footprint in the hospital, the Director said due to this, the hospital needs to be decontaminated and internal contact tracing is to be undertaken.

“This being a major exercise, the NEIGRIHMS hospital services including OPD and emergency services will be closed till further orders,” Dr Bhattacharyya said. He informed that the indoor patient care services, however, will remain operational.

Areas under containment in NEIGRIHMS include Orthopedics ward, Radiology department, Cardiology OPD, ECG lab, Anesthesia OPD and PAC area, ICTC lab area.

By Our Reporter