Thirty house surgeons (all male) were quarantined as a 24-year-old batchmate tested positive after treating a third patient, a 58-year-old man from Hindupur, at the GGH here on Friday.
Meanwhile, two more persons – a staff nurse at the GGH and a secondary contact of a Mecca- returnee from the Kothacheruvu area in the district – tested positive for COVID-19, taking the tally to 15 in the district.
The house surgeons had boycotted their duties on Thursday, forcing the district administration to hold a meeting and promise them to provide masks and personal protection equipment (PPEs) wherever needed.
Protest seeking masks
But to their dismay, the female house surgeons who reached the hospital with surgical masks on Friday were not given the N-95 masks as promised. This led to all the house surgeons boycotting their duties again.
When the issue went to the notice of the district Collector and Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath, the masks were given to the house surgeons at their hostels in the evening.
The house surgeons criticised the “callous attitude” of the hospital management with regard to their safety, and decided to join duties from Saturday.
Meanwhile, the house surgeon who tested positive celebrated his birthday in his room. Other batch mates came to his room to greet him as he was not even a suspect then.
