COVID-19: Four healthcare personnel test positive in Andhra Pradesh

Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, April 9

Jubilation over 200 samples testing negative for COVID-19 overnight in Andhra Pradesh was short lived with the latest report showing four healthcare personnel as being positive.

These are two doctors and two nurses, working in the Anantapur Government General Hospital. They had treated a 64-year-old patient with symptoms of COVID-19.

A debate has started in the state with former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu blaming the YSR Congress Party of exposing doctors to threat without providing them with Personal Protection Equipment (PPE).

The doctors and nurses were isolated and tested after the patient they treated died on April 4.

The health department has quarantined 20 medical staff that had come in contact with the doctors and nurses.

Anantapur District Collector Gandham Chandrudu blamed the medical personnel of laxity and said, “The incident took place because they treated a patient with COVID-19 symptoms normally (without safety gear). We ask the doctors to consider everyone as a COVID-19 suspected patient and treat them.”

Additional Chief Secretary, Health, PV Ramesh described the incident as “unfortunate”.

He added the government will do everything

possible to ensure such events don’t recur.

After a doctor, Dr Sudhakar Rao, from the Narsipatnam area hospital refused to attend to patients without PPE kits, the government suspended him for speaking against it.

The opposition leaders, after his video went viral, have taken the government to task. With the four medical

professional testing positive today, the lack of PPE’s for doctors has again been highlighted.

The doctor’s video has been featured on the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP’s) website.

Andhra Pradesh now has 348 cases with 339 being active. The state has seen six recoveries and three deaths.

Meanwhile, in adjoining Telangana the number is now 471 with 11 deaths so far. Eighteen new cases were reported today, among them five from Nirmal district.

District Collector Mohammad Musharraf Ali said the areas, where those testing positive, have been totally locked down.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has set up 12 containment clusters in the city as 89 COVID-19 positive cases came from these places.

In these clusters the public movement is being monitored and barricading has been done to check public movement.