Ship’s Doctor on Roald Amundsen’s ‘Contagion Voyage’ Shudders – NRK Troms and Finnmark – Local News, TV & Radio

– The doctor is surprised that the FHI rules on testing and quarantine on the ground were not followed. He reacted strongly when he later found out about this, writes a lawyer for the Norwegian Medical Association, Anders Schrøder Amundsen, in an email to NRK.

Represents the Norwegian ship’s doctor on one of two voyages with Hurtigruten’s expedition ship “Roald Amundsen” in late July.

After the two trips in July, a total of 71 people were infected with the coronavirus, 29 passengers and 42 in the crew.

Hurtigruten’s own investigation into the outbreak was released yesterday. The report reveals many errors in the handling of the situation by the transport company.

There were two different Norwegian ship doctors on the two voyages. Both are identified in the investigation report as people who could have become ill aboard the crown and thus prevent the outbreak from escalating.

The ship’s doctor on the first voyage has already told NRK that he is not recognized in the report’s descriptions.

Now the ship’s doctor on the second voyage is also speaking to NRK, through his lawyer.

The ship’s doctor thinks the report is painstaking work.

– The main conclusion is in line with the way the doctor understands the case, based on his role as doctor on the ship the week he was on board this summer, writes lawyer Amundsen.

However, the doctor reacts strongly to a number of things that came up in the report.

Not quarantined

Most of the “Roald Amundsen” employees were Filipinos. They were given a crown test before leaving the Philippines. But when they arrived in Norway, after a long journey, they went straight to work aboard the ship without being re-searched or being quarantined.

This was contrary to FHI guidelines.

– The doctor assumed that the FHI guidelines had been followed, meaning that the crew should have been examined on arrival in Norway and quarantined ashore before boarding the ship, writes Amundsen.

According to the lawyer, the ship’s doctor would never have boarded the ship if he had known or suspected that the Filipino workers had not been re-searched in Norway.

The doctor also says that his medical assessments would have been different if he had known this.

Was covid-19 suspected?

Following the corona outbreak, both the Hurtigruten management, FHI and the Tromsø municipality, where the ship docked, said they did not suspect corona infection on board the ‘Roald Amundsen’.

In dialogue with the University Hospital of Northern Norway, the ship’s doctor is also said to have said that they did not suspect coronary heart disease.

But the report reveals some other information.

It says both doctors on board must have explained that they suspected a corona infection on board on July 29. In any case, they have explained it in an interview related to the investigation.

At the same time, this contradicts what appears in a written statement from one of the doctors on August 3, 2020. It is said that no he was suspected of having covid-19 on the trip.

Also mentioned in the report is an attachment sent to the Tromsø port operator on July 30. Among other things, it is checked that there are no symptoms of corona among the crew. The form is signed by one of the two doctors on the ship.

The investigation report also indicates that there was first a desire to test employees for COVID-19 on board the ship. But then it was said that they wanted to postpone these tests (“deferred”, as it says in the report).

The report further states that only the ship’s doctors suspected COVID-19 on board upon entering Tromsø. Other people involved in Hurtigruten have explained that they have assumed that there was no suspicion of covid-19 because the tests were “deferred.” They then interpreted it to mean that the evidence was no longer relevant.

– The doctor sees that internal communication with the management could have been better. When doctors wrote that tests should be “deferred,” this means postponed, not canceled. The postponement was because they had no analytical capabilities on the ship and therefore had no intention of bringing the evidence aboard the ship, attorney Amundsen writes to NRK.

– If this has been interpreted to mean that there was no risk of infection, it must be due to a misunderstanding. On July 29 and 30, several emails were sent to the ship’s address where doctors requested covid tests on land.

There is also disagreement over the reason why patients on board the “Roald Amundsen” were sent to UNN by taxi.

Hurtigruten writes in an email to NRK that they cannot comment on the case as they have not been part of the work on the report.

– We used the comprehensive investigation report to review the reasons why it went wrong and use it and recommendations to prevent something similar from happening again, writes press officer Øystein Knoph.

Taxi and warning

The report indicates that the plan was to rent a car to take patients to the hospital. She also appears in the dialogue between AMK and the ship’s medic. According to the report, it was not possible to get a rental car, so the patients were sent by taxi.

– The doctor has also explained that he warned against using a taxi on arrival in Tromsø, but was not listened to. It is difficult to know for sure what was said on the dock, but the doctor nonetheless provided the necessary infection control measures in the taxi. However, the report is not clear on this, writes attorney Amundsen.

The investigation concludes that this was an unsafe transport.

“Both Hurtigruten employees and taxi drivers were exposed to the risk of infection. The background to this choice has not been clear from the investigation,” he says.

The ship’s doctor also believes that various other aspects of the case should have been investigated.

You were not notified in the central system

Already on July 29, Hurtigruten and the National Institute of Public Health were notified of a possible corona infection on board the “Roald Amundsen”. A passenger on the first trip had been diagnosed with an infection at his home in Hadsel Township.

The municipal supervisor contacted both the transport company and FHI. However, the case was not reported further.

– There should have been a report from the National Institute of Public Health on the risk of infection on the ship after the incident at Hadsel. This message had to go through a common messaging system called Vesuvius. Then the county governor, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority and the Tromsø municipal chief, especially considering that the municipality was the receiving port, would have been notified. Since this investigation only includes Hurtigruten, this important aspect of the case has not emerged.

The doctor’s lawyer writes to NRK and states that the ship’s doctor has no further comment.

NRK has previously been in contact with FHI regarding the notification at ‘Vesuvius’.

They confirm that this was never reported there.

– Notification to FHI of outbreaks can be done directly / by phone and / or enter Vesuvius. The notification is made by the health personnel of the municipality. Hurtigruten considered at the time that there was no outbreak and had not reported this to the municipality of Tromsø, which had been the one to notify on Vesuvius, FHI writes in an email to NRK.

Municipal Chief Medical Officer Kathrine Kristoffersen tells NRK that they were not aware of a possible infection or actual infection in “Roald Amundsen” when the ship arrived in Tromsø.

– We knew this when the first employees received a positive test, then UNN informed us. UNN informed me of the suspected covid infection on the morning of 08/31, at approximately 09:40 AM. The first two positive samples informed me at. 10.34, write in an email to NRK.