Bengaluru, Sept 2: Nearly 12,300 healthcare workers have so far tested positive for covid-19 and 46 among them have lost their lives, according to data released by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). They include doctors, nurses, lab technicians, pharmacists, allied health workers and group D staff
As of August 25, as many as 1,07,100 samples of healthcare workers from Karnataka have been tested, out of which 11% have turned out to be covid positive. This is the second highest in the country after Maharashtra in the state-wide list of coronavirus infection among healthcare workers.
All covid-19 hospitals in Bengaluru have Hospital Infection Control Committees (HICCs) to prevent cross-contamination, but healthcare workers are still contracting the infection.
Hospitals said likely sources of infection are PPE doffing practices, patient attenders, those visiting fever clinics to give samples, commute to and from hospitals, and own family members.
Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey said that "regular trainings are organised every fortnight" and "rapid antibody kits are being given to health workers to check the presence of antibodies and instil confidence". "Protocols for work and rest have been given," he added.
While all major Covid-19 hospitals in Bengaluru have had a large number of their staff testing positive, there have been no deaths of staffers in major dedicated Covid-19 hospitals.
Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD) has had 60 staffers test positive, while KC General Hospital saw 84 staffers contracting the contagious disease. CV Raman General Hospital has had 21 hospital staff test positive.
Dr C Nagaraj, Director, RGICD, said he didn't think the staff got infected in the Covid ward.
"Initially, our doctors had to talk to patient attenders of SARI patients whose Covid-19 status was yet to be known. Patient attendees who did not wear masks were primary contacts which risked our doctors," he said.
Dr HDR Radhakrishna, medical superintendent, CV Raman General Hospital, said out of 12,384 samples collected, 1,774 tested positive. "We have shown multiple PPE doffing videos to our staff," he said.
"Hypochlorite solution is sprayed on them for disinfection before they remove it. They must have got infected when people came to give samples at the hospital, during the commute to and from the hospital or at home," he added.
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