Pims seals MCH, operating theatre after 15 staffers test positive.

Byline: Ikram Junaidi

ISLAMABAD -- The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) Mother and Child Hospital (MCH) and the operating theatre in the Children's Hospital were sealed on Tuesday after 15 people from both facilities were diagnosed with Covid-19.

Around 30 patients admitted to the Mother and Child Hospital have also been discharged with directions to visit other hospitals in case of emergencies and three serious cases were referred to Capital Hospital.

Pims Executive Director Dr Ansar Maxood said the facilities were sealed to prevent the coronavirus was spreading further in the hospital.

'MCH has been closed for eight days and the operating theatre will stay closed for three or four days. They will be completely disinfected,' he added.

MCH doctor says she displayed Covid-19 symptoms for three days but had to continue working despite staff requests to seal facility

Dr Maxood said two doctors and three staffers from the Mother and Child Hospital have tested positive for Covid-19. Of the employees tested at the Children's Hospital, 10 came back positive on Tuesday.

He said that both the hospital and the operating theatre will be made functional once they have been disinfected. Staff have also been asked to take precautionary measures.

In a video, a doctor from the Mother and Child Hospital said that a doctor from her batch tested positive for Covid-19 three days ago.

'I have had symptoms for the last three days but was continuously performing duties, as the management did not heed our request to seal the MCH and begin contact tracing,' she said. 'We had to come to the hospital, and other staff members were also infected.'

The doctor said she had quarantined herself in a room that lacked even a toilet as she could not go home, because of her son and her elderly father.

'No one bothered to give me a...