Covid-19 affects 16 orthopaedic doctors at LGH

LAHORE: The Lahore General Hospital (LGH) administration Thursday closed the Orthopaedic Ward after confirmation of coronavirus infection among 16 doctors in the ward.

The LGH administration was forced to take the decision on the recommendation of the Department of the Orthopaedics and Spine Surgery after 16 doctors got infected with coronavirus. “Sixteen doctors of Orthopaedic Department oroved Covid-19 positive during the last one week, and remaining are in quarantine. Therefore, the department should be closed for at least 10 days to prevent further spread among the health professionals and patients,” Prof Dr Muhammad Hanif, head of the Orthopaedics Department, wrote to the LGH principal.

The LGH administration closed the ward for three days initially. According to hospital sources, three doctors and two nurses of Punjab Institute of Neuroscience (PINS), which is part of LGH and located on the hospital premises, have also been tested positive for coronavirus.

Over all, at least, 35 medical personnel of LGH including 25 doctors and remaining nurses and paramedics have been diagnosed with Covid-19 infection so far.

LGH Medical Superintendent Dr Mahmood Tariq told The News that the ward had been closed initially for three days and disinfected after surge in cases among the staff of the hospital.

While confirming Covid-19 infections among 35 medical professionals in the hospital, the MS said the detection of high number of cases among medical staff was due to hospital’s capacity of conducting testing of the staff for coronavirus. “The coronavirus testing laboratory has been established in the LGH, which is able to detect high number of cases among medical professionals in the hospital,” he added.

“There is high possibility of increase in number of cases among medical staff in other hospitals as well,” he said, while identifying lack of testing capacity as the reason for detection of low number of cases in other hospitals so far. “As soon as the government increases the testing capacity in other hospitals, the increased number of cases of coronavirus among medical staff is likely to be detected,” he added.

Out of total 1,886 tests conducted on healthcare workers, 241 were found Covid-19 positive, with a ratio of 12.7 per cent among the health professionals.