Nagpur: In a fresh twist to the ongoing debate over discharging the new strain suspects who tested positive for Covid19, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) now plans to send home those testing negative twice after completing 14 days at GMCH’s special ward even if the NIV report is pending.
Municipal commissioner Radhakrishnan B told TOI that Covid positive persons, who are new strain suspects, can be discharged without waiting for the NIV report any further, subject to certain conditions. “If they have completed 14 days from the date of admission at GMCH and tested negative twice, they will be sent home, irrespective of the NIV result. We are thinking of discharging them but before that we will take the green signal from the state and the district task force,” he said.
The civic chief said the matter has been referred to the district task force led by IGGMCH dean Dr Ajay Keoliya. The task force, comprising GMCH dean Sajal Mitra, medical superintendents of both medial colleges, a couple of well-known doctors, is likely to hold a meet on the issue with the civic chief on Monday.
“They are going to seek the state task force’s views. As NIV reports have still not come, how long can we keep them? We can’t keep them for two or three months if the report doesn’t come till then. On Monday, the district task force will be taking it up with the state task force,” said Radhakrishnan.
On January 2, the directorate of medical education and research (DMER) insisted a compulsory hospital stay for all new strain suspects till their NIV report is out. DMER director TP Lahane had said that the UK strain suspects shall continue in hospital till the NIV report is declared.
Samples of all the eight new strain suspects admitted at GMCH are awaited. The first sample was sent on December 25. All had returned from European countries. Some suspects were already negative when they were admitted while the others had tested positive more than two weeks before being traced and shifted to the GMCH special ward.
GMCH and civic officials feel the case of city flyers from affected nations don’t fit the mandate and hence, they must be allowed to go home.
They said the policy needs to be amended as there is no separate line of treatment even if it is found that the suspects were new strain patients. On the other hand, the suspect and their relatives are worried about getting infected at GMCH due to the prolonged stay.
Some task force members told TOI that they are ready to guide the NMC on the discharge of these new strain suspects. “As per the Epidemic Act and SOPs, the municipal commissioner is the final authority on deciding the fate of these eight persons. He should coordinate and decide early for the benefit of the patients and their families,” they said, adding that the task force is only an advisory council and has no administrative powers.