Surgeon with coronavirus symptoms isolated The doctor himself informed us about his illness and symptoms of cough and fever on Monday morning: CMO

Workers fold washed towels in the wake of coronavirus at Mechanised Laundry Plant in Calcutta on Monday.(PTI)

Snehamoy Chakraborty, TT, 17.03.20, Bankura: A plastic-surgeon of Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, who had returned from England four days ago, was admitted to an isolation ward at Bankura Sammilani Medical College on Monday morning with suspected symptoms of novel coronavirus.

The health officials in Bankura quarantined four persons, including two doctors who came in close proximity of the Calcutta-based surgeon, at a private hotel in Bankura town.

Two health department employees, including the driver of the vehicle in which the surgeon travelled, have been isolated at the Chhatna super-specialty hospital.

“The doctor himself informed us about his illness and symptoms of cough and fever on Monday morning. As he had a history of recent foreign travel, we immediately quarantined him,” said Shyamal Saren, the chief medical officer of health in Bankura.

An official at the Bankura medical college said the swabs of the doctor had been sent to the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases for tests to find whether he was suffering from novel coronavirus.

“The report is expected by Wednesday morning. We have followed the protocol in dealing with suspected coronavirus cases to avoid an outbreak,” said Partha Pratim Pradhan, principal of Bankura Sammilani Medical College and hospital.

Sources in the health department said the doctor, a senior resident in the plastic surgery department of the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, had returned from England on March 12 and operated on his patients the following day.

The doctor reached here on Sunday, along with two more doctors from other states, to attend a camp of reconstructive surgery for leprosy patients at the Regional Leprosy Training And Research Institute in Bankura on Monday.

The team had put up in a private lodge in Bankura.

“We did not take a minute to admit him to the hospital. We identified those who came in close proximity of the doctor immediately and quarantined them. We have kept six persons, including two doctors, in quarantine,” said a health department official.

Health officials have stopped the entry of anyone, including its staff, to the hotel where the four have been kept quarantined.

“We have selected a team to look after them. They will take full precautions during serving them food or for any other necessities. As the six, who had came close to the doctor who fell ill, have no health related issues, we did not admit them to the hospital,” an official said.