42 PG students, working in COVID-19 ward in Chennai, test positive

Forty two post-graduate students at the Madras Medical College, Chennai tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday (June 12). A total of 58 PG students working in the coronavirus wards were tested during the routine COVID-19 test, of whom 42 tested positive.

Sources said one of them was infected earlier as well and had recovered last week. “But, within a week, he again tested positive for COVID-19,” said a source in the medical college. Despite taking all precautionary measures, including proper PPE kits and masks, the students were infected with the virus.

Since all the students are staying at the Madras Medical College’s Broadway men’s hostel, it is suspected that using a common toilet might be the reason behind the spread of the virus among the students.

All the 42 infected students have been asked to get admitted in the COVID-19 ward of the hospital. The college administration has decided to disinfect the hostel and also planning to shift the other students to an alternate accommodation.

Related news: 1,875 test positive for COVID in TN; Chennai ‘tampers’ with death toll data

Earlier, two PG students had tested positive for the virus on April 27 among a total of 102 students on whom the tests were conducted. Following this, the hostel was shut for a brief period.

Until April, as many as 23 healthcare workers at the Madras Medical College and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital had tested positive for the virus. The trainee doctors had then complained of poor-quality masks and PPE kits as the reason behind the spread of the infection.

“After the issue flared up, all the doctors, including the trainees, were provided proper N95 masks and PPE kits,” said a PG student, wishing anonymity.

Now, the students suspect one of them might have contracted it from an infected patient and then spread it among others. Madras Medical College Dean R Jayanthi was unavailable for a comment.