Breaking: North Bengal Medical College Doctor Tests Positive for COVID 19

Kalimpong, April 9, 2020:

While Siliguri is fighting the coronavirus outbreak along with the entire nation on a war footing, a doctor from the West Bengal town, who was on the frontlines at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH), has tested positive for COVID 19.

A report carried in Uttar Banga Sambad has confirmed that a junior super of the hospital has tested positive for the contagion.

The doctor was sent to home quarantine after he started feeling unwell on Tuesday and the swab sample for a test was sent on the same day to the Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory of NBMCH. On Wednesday, his test returned a positive result.

It has been reported that the doctor was on the frontlines in the North Bengal Medical College ever since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. He has now been admitted to the isolation ward of NBMCH.

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Earlier, the sample of a nurse serving at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, Siliguri, had tested positive for the novel coronavirus or COVID-19. The nurse was said to be “under treatment” for the last few days.

The nurse who reportedly hails from Tindharey under Kurseong, has been sent to isolation ward of a state-selected dedicated COVID 19 hospital at Matigara after testing positive. Sources informed that the condition of the nurse is now ‘stable’.

As informed, the nurse was a part of the medical team which was treating the Kalimpong woman who died last Monday and the railway personnel of Pradhan Nagar, who died a couple of days ago, both after testing positive for the contagion. She has been shifted to the isolation ward of Dr. Chhang’s Nursing Home after her report came in. Dr. Pralay Acharya, CMOH, Darjeeling, has informed that she has been kept in the isolation ward for treatment.

Notably, the issue of availability of proper protective gear for the medical staffs was raised by the medical staffs and junior doctors only a few days back in the NBMCH. Yesterday, Minister Gautam Deb had handed over a fresh set of PPEs and masks to the administration of the NBMCH.

It may be recalled that West Bengal reported its first case of coronovirus death in Kolkata on 23 March.

The state has also recorded its first Covid-19 positive case with links to the Nizamuddin case in Delhi. One person from Haldia in Purba Medinipur, who had joined the Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi, has tested positive for coronavirus. In all, 103 people have so far tested positive for the coronavirus in West Bengal and 5 people have died due to complications.

Meanwhile, the State's administration has detected 7 hotspots of the virus in the region.

These seven hotspots are – Kalimpong, Egra, Tehatta, Howrah, Kolkata, Command Hospital and Haldia. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that her government has identified the seven COVID-19 hotspots in the State and was taking necessary measures to break the cycle of transmission.

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