Doctors who treated corona patient put in home quarantine

Srinagar, Mar 25: Two doctors have been placed under home quarantine on Wednesday after they got in contact with a positive case at the SMHS Hospital.

On Wednesday, four more patients were tested positive for coronavirus taking the total number to seven in the valley. There are 11 positive cases in Jammu and Kashmir of whom four are recovering

 What came as shock was the fact that a 67-year-old resident had concealed his travel history and roamed freely until medical intervention was required.

A resident doctor at SMHS Hospital said the patient reported to him on March 22.

“He came with the symptoms of cough and breathlessness. I asked him to run some routine diagnostic tests and X-ray,” the doctor said.

The doctor noted that the X-ray reports showed the patient was a classic case of “Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)”.

“When I saw his X-ray, I alerted my senior,” he said.

Both the doctors requested him to reveal his travel history thereafter.

“On insistence, a male attendant accompanying him revealed that he had traveled from Delhi. This was half-truth as he had visited several places which we came to know later,” the doctor said.

He noted that the patient had already reported to JVC and SKIMS before coming to SMHS, concealing his travel history all through.

The patient was shifted to Chest Hospital, Srinagar. On Tuesday, his test reports came back positive

The samples of the doctors under quarantine will be sent to the virology laboratory for screening in a day or two. “It might be possible that the test reports come negative in the initial stages. So we have to wait for some days,” the doctor said.