Nearly 25 patients at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last few days. A majority of them are from a single ward for men.
Official sources said the affected patients were shifted and isolated at a separate ward in the institution. They were being monitored in coordination with doctors at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH). Two of them were admitted to RGGGH.
A majority of those who had tested positive for COVID-19 were from ward 9 of IMH. A senior doctor said the screening of patients was being carried out ward by ward. A protocol was in place at IMH for isolating and monitoring asymptomatic patients, and they would be shifted to the RGGGH if required.
“A number of postgraduate students of IMH, who were deputed to COVID-19 Care Centres at Nandambakkam and Semmencherry, and assistant professors had tested positive for COVID-19 earlier. Ward staff and other hospital workers come from outside, and it is difficult to trace the source of the infection,” a doctor said on the condition of anonymity.
‘Test all residents’
Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Association for the Rights of All Types of Differently Abled and Caregivers urged the State government to test all residents of IMH for COVID-19. Around 30% of the patients were elderly, and nearly 50% had co-morbidities, like diabetes and hypertension. As of now, only those with symptoms were being tested, it said. The association’s State general secretary, S. Namburajan, said it had submitted a representation to Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan on the issue, and he had given an assurance that all IMH patients would be tested for COVID-19 immediately.
In a tweet, T.M.N. Deepak, president, December 3 Movement, urged the Ministers of Health and Social Welfare to test all IMH patients without delay.