Gardener takes swab samples as hospital staff test positive in Madhya Pradesh

BHOPAL:  A government hospital in Madhya Pradesh’s Raisen district is using the services of its gardener for taking throat and nasal samples of people for Covid testing. The hospital is located in Sanchi, the assembly constituency of Health Minister Dr Prabhuram Chowdhary. The gardener, Halke Ram, wearing a protective face mask and gloves, was seen in a recent video taking oral swab samples of a woman at the hospital.

He is heard telling people that he takes care of plants in the hospital, and that since many hospital staff have tested positive, he has been asked to take samples. “I’ve been trained just like other staff to take the samples. When others are positive, I’m taking the samples,” the gardener is seen telling the media. Block Medical Officer Rajshri Tidke, who is also in-charge of the government hospital, said, “Many of the hospital’s staff or their children have tested positive.

We’ve trained our other staff also to take samples. In such emergency situations, maybe such things happen once in a while.” Meanwhile, another video has gone viral in which a female staff at the VJF Hospital in Jabalpur is seen misbehaving with an elderly man during Covid-19 vaccination. After the video went viral, the authorities removed her from duty and initiated disciplinary proceedings against her.

The state reported the highest single-day spike of 8,998 cases over the last 24 hours. On Tuesday, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan met his ministerial colleagues, who have been tasked with coordinating control operations in various districts and officials in Bhopal.