PANIC AS EXPOSED DOCTOR PUT IN SELF-QUARANTINE

MANZINI – A senior medical doctor at Good Shepherd Mission Hospital has been advised to be in self-quarantine.

This was after he was exposed to two patients who tested positive for coronavirus and they were those whom the Ministry of Health confirmed as case number one and nine, respectively.  As a result, on Tuesday the doctor in question was given an undisclosed number of days to be in self-quarantine. A source close to the matter said the medical staff at the hospital, including doctors and nurses, were concerned about their safety. He said this was because at first, their assumption was that maybe their colleague was not at work for the reason that he allegedly knew something which they were not aware of. He said the panic among the medical staff members, who later learnt that the senior medical doctor was in self- quarantine because he was exposed to COVID-19 positive patients, was that they were also automatically in danger.

Contact

He said this was because they were also in contact with all patients that the doctor in question attended to. Again, he said the medical staff members were worried why the doctor was only placed on self-quarantine, instead of being tested. “If the administration felt so strong that the doctor should be in self-quarantine, surely he should be tested and contact- tracing initiated,” the insider said. He said the staff members wondered and were concerned why the hospital was failing to implement the standard procedures of the World Health Organisation (WHO), which include testing a person who had been in contact with COVID-19 positive individuals and start contact-tracing afterwards.

Meanwhile, Muzi Dlamini, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Good Shepherd Mission Hospital confirmed the matter. He said the issue was one of the concerns which were raised by the workers with management last Saturday. Thereafter, he said they had a day-long meeting with relevant stakeholders on Monday about the issue of the doctor among others. He said workers were also represented in the meeting.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: