CHENNAI: The COVID-19 pandemic has not spared the frontline warriors in Chennai with 15 doctors testing positive during the past few days at the famed Stanley Medical College Hospital, according to top sources.
The sources said that out of the 15, four were doctors treating COVID patients while nine others were part of the task force attending group meetings. The other two are PG doctors.
Hospital authorities also confirmed that the doctors, who tested positive, are all stable. Operations at the hospital continue to run smoothly, they added.
"The hospital is in the red zone and is also under a containment zone. A maximum of 3,000 to 4,000 people with severe illness and fever come daily. The source of infection can't be ascertained. All the doctors are provided adequate PPEs and the situation at the hospital is under control," a top official told The New Indian Express.
Officials said that the UG students hostel has been cleared and the doctors have been kept under observation there. Five of those affected are said to be women doctors.
While top officials claim that patients might have been the source of the infection, others known to the infected doctors said they might have caught it from other doctors.
"Nine of the affected doctors are professors in the medical college and they never went to the COVID ward. Some of the affected doctors in the frontline would have entered the taskforce committee room where meetings were held," the sources said.
Stanley Hospital currently has 744 positive cases, said sources.
"Even though the shifting of asymptomatic patients has been happening, cases from north Chennai come to Stanley first. We try to give preference to severely critical patients who need supportive treatment," said sources.
While there are concerns over lack of adequate PPEs, hospital authorities and doctors have both brushed them aside.
"Adequate PPEs are definitely provided to all the doctors but the risk factor remains high as the hospital is situated in the heart of Royapuram, the worst-affected zone in Chennai," said a frontline doctor.
Stanley Hospital Dean Dr Balaji said, "The rest of the available doctors are in the ward and are working tirelessly. There's nothing to worry."