Panic at Bengaluru's Vani Vilas Hospital after pregnant woman tests COVID-19 positive

Panic gripped Vani Villas Women and Children Hospital on Saturday after a pregnant mother was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Friday night.

Patient 765, a 20-year-old woman from Padrayanpura, was brought into the hospital with another patient from the same locality at around 11.30 am on Friday.

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While the other woman was identified as COVID-19 positive upon arrival and was immediately transferred to Covid care at the nearby Trauma Care Centre at Victoria Hospital, Patient 765 was asymptomatic and was initially held at Vani Villas, explained Dr C R Jayanthi, Dean-Director of Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMRCI).

"She was in late stage pregnancy and we did not know that she was positive. A swab test had been done and we were awaiting the results," Dr Jayanthi added.

By the time she was discovered as also being COVID-19 positive, some staff from the hospital had spent over four hours with her, a source said, adding that a large number of primary and secondary contacts had been generated.

“The contacts have been moved into quarantine,” a nurse at the hospital said.

The revelation triggered panic at the hospital on Saturday morning. The hospital had not previously dealt with COVID-19 cases. Medical staff who spoke to DH were aghast that a coronavirus positive patient has been discovered in their midst.

Calls To Segregate Hospital

Dr Jayanthi downplayed the panic, saying that while Vani Villas hospital is a non-covid hospital, it does deal with suspected cases on a regular basis.

“PPEs were not required for suspected cases. With the emergence of this case, there has been a call to segregate the hospital and issue protective kits,” she said.

Dr Geetha Shivamurthy, Medical Superintendent of the hospital, clarified that Vani Villas has been the recipient of suspected COVID-19 cases since the start of the lockdown. These include women or children from hotpots areas and those with Influenza Like Illness, Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) or fever.

"In the last 40 days of the lockdown we have carried out over 1,300 deliveries and 512 C-sections. We have conducted 200 covid tests. We never had a single case until Friday,” she said.

She added that there are currently 12 suspected COVID-19 cases at the hospital, five of them postnatal.

"As soon as anybody turns positive, we move them to the Trauma Care Centre," she said.

Staff Demand Special Team

Some staff also demanded that a special team be set up at the hospital to handle incoming cases. Tensions are also high due to concerns over the sharp uptake of the number of the COVID-19 cases in the city over the last three days, staff said.

"Too many cases are coming to the hospital. In fact, every case in the district is coming to the hospital," said a senior nurse, adding that facility was not properly set up to handle COVID-19 patients.

Among its various institutions, Minto Eye Hospital, Vani Villas Hospital and Victoria Hospital, the BMRCI has about 1,500 beds to cater to potential Covid-19 cases.

"The number of beds is not the issue. The issue is how prepared the staff is to tackle the increasing number of cases," a doctor said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

"There needs to be a protocol, protective equipment and a rotational system to handle the suspected cases, because any one of them could turn positive," the doctor said.