PG doctors want exam postponed after 110 medicos test COVID +Ve

Hyderabad: Clamour is growing for the postponement of exams after more than 110 doctors and paramedics tested positive for COVID 19 in Telangana.

On June 12, the government announced that two postgraduates (PGs) at the surgery department, two PGs at plastic surgery super-specialty department, one intern, and one BDS intern were tested COVID positive in Osmania Medical College(OMC).

As on Friday, five from Gandhi Hospital and 42 from NIMS were reported COVID positive. Those tested positive at NIMS include 23 doctors, and 20 paramedical and nursing staff. The total number of medicos infected now stands at 110.

But what is worrying is that the examinations are beginning from June 20. “Several postgraduates have tested positive for Covid-19 and are being treated at Gandhi Hospital. Almost all of these cases were traced back to the hospital and the hostel premises," a postgraduate student on condition of anonymity.

Another equally worrisome fact is that an unknown and much higher number of PGs are primary contacts of the positive cases. “A gathering of such students at the exam centers would carry a far greater risk of infection. Holding exams at a short notice in such a scenario would be extremely unwise,” he said.

The doctor noted that COVID 19 positive doctors are under greater stress. “After the treatment at Gandhi, they have been advised 2 weeks home quarantine. It would be unfair to expect them to adequately prepare for the exams despite the ordeal they have undergone. Same is the case with the primary contacts, many of whom left the hostels and the reading rooms after the outbreak of infection,” he said.

Another PG doctor Jaideep said two of his colleagues who work on the same floor have been infected.

“A female junior doctor, who was earlier tested negative, is now positive. Those infected with symptoms are being shifted to Gandhi Hospital. However asymptomatic patients are placed under home quarantine,” he said