SAMBALPUR: AS many as 70 doctors of Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR) at Burla were on Wednesday put under quarantine on Wednesday, a day after nine clinicians and an attendant of Medicine department tested positive for Covid-19.
Director of VIMSAR Lalit Meher said all the doctors who had come in contact with the infected persons have been quarantined. They include 38 doctors of the Medicine department.
He further said considering the situation, the OPD of Medicine department will be closed for seven days from Thursday. However, emergency services will be made available for patients. Besides, patients can avail telemedicine services during the closure period. Prescriptions will also be generated and sent online to patients.The nine doctors and attendant of the medicine department tested positive on Tuesday night.
Earlier, VIMSAR had closed all outpatient departments of the hospital for 12 days in two phases after medical and paramedical staff were found to be infected with the virus. In the first phase, the hospital authorities closed the OPDs from July 15 to 19 after a doctor and a nurse of the Radiotherapy department tested positive on July 14. Prior to that, a PG student and a nurse deployed at central intensive care unit were also found to be Covid-19 positive on July 13.
The closure period was further extended by seven days till July 26 to contain the virus spread after more medical workers tested positive for Covid-19.So far, 15 doctors of the premier medical institute of western Odisha have tested positive for coronavirus.