Mumbai: A day after five non-medical staffers of Jaslok Hospital tested positive for coronavirus, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has asked the hospital administration to shift the quarantined patients to a hotel where arrangements have been made.
BMC officials said they had approached private hotel-owners to avail of facilities to set up private quarantine wards on their premises. “Soon patients and non-medical staffers quarantined at Jaslok will be shifted to Shalimar Hotel in Kemps Corner,” he said.
The patients will be provided with separate rooms and washroom facilities. The beds, appliances and utensils in the rooms will be disinfected. The primary objective of shifting the patients will be to provide the total isolation and minimal human interaction.
All the staffers who came in direct or indirect contact with the affected staffers and patient have been identified, tracked and quarantined as per protocol. Sources said around 150 people, including staff and patients, were being tested and 12-15 had been quarantined.
Meanwhile, the hospital administration has been asked not to allow any new admissions except for emergencies. Outpatient services too have been shut down. However, the hospital administration has denied that quarantined patients were being moved to the hotel.
“All the medical staff who came in direct or indirect contact with the affected nurse and the concerned patient have been identified and quarantined as per protocol. We have conducted direct and indirect contact tracing and swab testing is in process,” said a hospital spokesperson.
