Director, others not quarantined, tested after close contacts report +ve
Irfan Tramboo
SRINAGAR, July 16: Despite many officers in the Administration of Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura testing positive for COVID-19, the Director SKIMS and the close contacts of the positive cases have preferred not to quarantine themselves, neither have they been tested so far.
Sources told Excelsior that around 5 officers in the Administrative Block tested positive for COVID-19 in last three days and these officials were the close contacts of the Director SKIMS, Dr A G Ahangar as well as several others.
Excelsior has learned that the close contacts of the positive cases are roaming around freely in the administrative block and nobody from them have been quarantined or tested for that matter.
Out of five officers who tested positive for COVID-19, two are said to be close contacts of the Director SKIMS. But despite knowing that, he has not quarantined himself nor has got himself tested for COVID-19.
The Cook in the Director’s office is also said to be in close contact with the officers who tested positive for COVID-19. However, what sources narrate to Excelsior depicts the state of affairs running totally against the protocol.
What is shocking here is that one Administrative Officer who tested positive was a close contact of the Superintending Engineer of the IT at SKIMS. The official, however, went ahead and conducted several meetings with the staff.
The sources said that ideally, the entire administrative block should have been sealed and the close contacts of the positive cases should have been quarantined and tested.
They said that there is no contact tracing, not testing. “Even the Director SKIMS has not bothered to get himself tested after his close contacts were tested positive for COVID-19,” they tested.
It was also informed that the mother of one security guard of the Director also tested positive. The insiders said that the guard was around till yesterday and today, he did not report.
When the Medical Superintendent, SKIMS Dr Farooq Jan was contacted regarding the issue, he said that he was not aware of anything in this regard and that he can neither confirm nor deny anything. “I don’t know anything about whether he (Director) has taken a test or not,” he said.
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