Karnataka in second spot in Covid-19 positive healthcare staff

Karnataka has the second-highest Covid-19 positive healthcare workers in the country after Maharashtra, with a total of 12,260 healthcare workers testing positive so far, out of which 46 have died from the contagious disease.

This includes doctors, nurses, lab technicians, pharmacists, allied health workers and group D staff, according to data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

As per the ICMR's August 25 line list, 1,07,100 samples of healthcare workers have been tested so far, out of which 11% have turned out to be Covid positive.

All Covid-19 hospitals in Bengaluru have Hospital Infection Control Committees (HICCs) to prevent cross-contamination, but healthcare workers are still contracting the infection.

Hospitals said likely sources of infection are PPE doffing practices, patient attenders, those visiting fever clinics to give samples, commute to and from hospitals, and own family members.

Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey said that "regular trainings are organised every fortnight" and "rapid antibody kits are being given to health workers to check the presence of antibodies and instil confidence". "Protocols for work and rest have been given," he added.

While all major Covid-19 hospitals in Bengaluru have had a large number of their staff testing positive, there have been no deaths of staffers in major dedicated Covid-19 hospitals.

Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD) has had 60 staffers test positive, while KC General Hospital saw 84 staffers contracting the contagious disease. CV Raman General Hospital has had 21 hospital staff test positive.

Dr C Nagaraj, Director, RGICD, said he didn't think the staff got infected in the Covid ward.

"Initially, our doctors had to talk to patient attenders of SARI patients whose Covid-19 status was yet to be known. Patient attendees who did not wear masks were primary contacts which risked our doctors," he said.

Dr HDR Radhakrishna, medical superintendent, CV Raman General Hospital, said out of 12,384 samples collected, 1,774 tested positive. "We have shown multiple PPE doffing videos to our staff," he said.

"Hypochlorite solution is sprayed on them for disinfection before they remove it. They must have got infected when people came to give samples at the hospital, during the commute to and from the hospital or at home," he added.