Seven staffers of the National Institute of Child Health, Karachi’s biggest public child healthcare centre, have tested positive for COVID-19, confirms Director Prof Dr Jamal Raza. The staff includes a doctor, nurses, minor operation theatre and laboratory technicians. There is a suspicion among staff that it spread to other departments from a special laboratory, located within the main lab on the top floor. It has an estimated 35 staffers. A few weeks earlier, a woman appointed to the special Neonatal Screening for Congenital Hypothyroidism lab within the main lab became infected and later another woman and a man associated with the project also got coronavirus. This special lab is a Sindh government initiative and it is headed by pathologist Dr Furqan Hassan. The main lab is run by Dr Rubab Naqvi. The NICH director added that three staffers of the Sindh government thyroid program are on the list but that they did not become infected in the hospital. Prof Raza said they were in touch with COVID-19 suspects outside the hospital. The male staffer from the thyroid testing program who tested positive said that his female colleague went to SIUT to get tested. “Then the project supervisor referred me and another female staffer to Indus Hospital and we both tested positive,” he said. Names have been withheld for privacy. He added that Indus Hospital suggested he isolate at home since he had no symptoms. “I chose a room that is isolated from rest of my house to quarantine myself,” he added. He added that the hospital had provided walk-through gates and PPE. According to him, his colleague who first tested positive is hospitalized and the one who was tested with him at Indus Hospital is in home isolation. At least two staffers who tested positive are at Expo Centre.
