42 medicos test positive at GMC Srinagar hospitals

Srinagar: 42 doctors and paramedics from the Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar on Sunday tested positive for COVID19, taking the total number of staff testing positive in the past 15 days to 249.

Principal GMC Srinagar, Prof Samia Rashid, while speaking to Greater Kashmir said “a high number of our healthcare staff are isolated at the moment due to COVID19.”

“We need to reduce the load but would keep the OPDs open,” she said. GMC Srinagar has the largest tertiary care hospital network in J&K and caters to lakhs of patients from across the Kashmir division. SMHS Hospital, Lal Ded Hospital, GB Pant Children’s Hospital, Bone and Joint Hospital, Chest Diseases Hospital, Super Specialty Hospital and Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences are under its administrative control.

Notably, the Health and Medical Education Department has decided to keep all the hospitals under the medical college operational for routine patient care. Prof Rashid said that the OPDs and other facilities at the hospital will continue to run as normal on Monday.

However, she said that elective surgeries have been stalled at the hospitals in order to reduce the load on human resources and conserve beds

On Friday, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir PK Pole had issued directions to all GMCs and the directorate of Health Services Kashmir to close down OPDs and elective surgeries in order to reserve resources for the patients that may require admission due to COVID19.