Alexandria, four infected in the gynecology department where the sick Covid doctor worked

Four positive cases of Covid were found after controls by the operators of the gynecology department of the “Santi Antonio e Biagio” hospital in Alessandria, where a doctor would have gone to work despite discomfort and fever. They are nurses and health workers. Security procedures for them have already been activated and home isolation has been ordered. The 60-year-old gynecologist had told everyone in the room that it was just the flu. Instead, he had a fever over 38 and now tested positive for Covid. He is admitted to the same hospital in conditions that are not considered serious.

Chronicle

Alexandria: gynecologist in the ward with fever: “It’s just the flu”, instead it was Covid

by SARA STRIPPOLI

Since the news broke, the hospital has been in crisis. After the first doubts, obviously all the controls were fired on colleagues and patients who came into contact with the doctor in the last days. Among them, of course, also pregnant women: every year 1,200 children are born in that room. The company initiated all security procedures, the contact tracing system was put in place, and department personnel were swabbed. At the moment there are four cases of infection that have been verified.

The news that reaches us in these hours from the Gynecology service of the Santi Antonio e Biagio Hospital in Alessandria, about the alleged contagion of four nursing colleagues by a doctor, who despite the fever and the illness, for days and days would have gone to work, if confirmed that they would be of indescribable gravity. Thus, in a note, Antonio De Palma, president of Nursing Up, the nurses’ union, spoke about the delicate Piedmontese issue.

“As a union – continues the secretary of Nursing Up – we ask the regional councilor for Health Icardi, but especially Minister Speranza, to intervene immediately to shed light on the matter. If the responsibilities of the doctor were really determined, it would be essential that the protagonist of these infections were referred to the competent authorities, for the appropriate measures established by law. What is at stake is not only the safety of our nurses, who would once again be the first to pay and the first to be exposed to risk, but above all they are not able to exclude the possible contagion of patients ”, concludes De Palma.

The report came after detecting the positivity of an operator. It is more difficult to understand how the doctor managed to pass the controls without being detained, considering that the measures provided for operators and visitors require that the temperature be measured at each entrance. “There are thermo-scanners everywhere but you just have to take a tachypyrine if you don’t feel well and your fever goes down to the point that control is fine,” says a doctor at the hospital.

In any case, the company specifies: “At each access, a checkpoint has been set up with the presence of personnel, equipped with a thermocanner and antiseptic hand gel. In addition, the use of the devices is mandatory during the entire stay in the hospital, against the spread of the virus. “Personnel checks were organized every 15, 20 and 40 days according to risk. If the operators do not follow the instructions provided, it is the warning, “the healthcare company will take the necessary actions. Any behavior of people who do not respect the indications goes against the pact of trust for health in favor of our patients. “

Even the Piedmontese Councilor for Health, Luigi Icardi, specifies that if the responsibility is found, the appropriate measures will be taken. Patients, adds the company, “can continue to access the room safely while respecting the rules of conduct.”