Madurai
The outpatient ward in Madurai Railway Hospital was closed on Monday after a matron had been infected with COVID-19.
According to railway sources, the OP ward was functioning on the ground floor of the hospital, while the first floor was recently converted into a COVID-19 ward where over 30 patients had been admitted.
A board was put up on the premises stating that the OP ward would remain closed for three days from Monday.
The special ward started functioning from last Wednesday where Madurai city police personnel and railway personnel have been admitted.
“Our fear that patients among railway employees, pensioners and their family members, who are admitted to the inpatient ward and the outpatient ward would be infected, if the special ward was set up close to these wards, has come true,” said Dakshin Railway Employees’ Union divisional secretary R. Sankaranarayanan.
The hospital was the only big medical facility for 8,000 railway employees and 4,000 pensioners in Madurai Railway Division. “Now, we will not be able to use the hospital,” he said.
Several beds were available at the Engineering Training Institute Hostel at Arasaradi railway ground, he said adding that COVID-19 ward could be shifted there.
However, a railway official said the State government had taken over the hospital as it has run out of beds at the Government Rajaji Hospital. “Even railway staff who are infected are getting treatment here,” he added.
