14 DH Ganderbal staffers contract COVID in a week

Ganderbal: At least 14 staffers of District Hospital (DH) Ganderbal including five doctors tested positive for COVID-19 inside a week, officials said Monday.

They said that all the staffers who tested positive had been sent for home isolation.

Medical Superintendent DH Ganderbal Dr Yasmeen Kangoo told Greater Kashmir that the administration’s decision to conduct the RAT test for each visitor to the hospital was showing satisfactory results on the ground.

Meanwhile, officials said that the DH Ganderbal has got its laboratory for conducting real-time Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests that would start functioning from Tuesday.

Additional Chief Secretary Health and Medical Education Department, Vivek Bharadvaj had on Friday e-inaugurated the three RT-PCR labs of Kashmir division in JLNM Hospital Srinagar, DH Ganderbal, and DH Pulwama.

Initially, the labs can conduct 200 RT-PCR tests per day which could be increased later on.

“However, in a pool run, the maximum number of tests can be 500 per day in each lab,” officials said.

Director Health Services Kashmir Dr Mushtaq Ahmad Rather said that the directorate was happy that the Kashmir division had got three RT-PCR labs including the one at Ganderbal.

“These labs will be helpful for mitigation of Covid-19,” he said.