VADODARA: Casting aside their battle fatigues, warriors at the Covid-designated hospital at state-run SSG Hospital in Vadodara broke out into a festive mood when for the first time the biggest hospital in central Gujarat did not have a single Covid-19 patient on Friday.
This was an achievement that demanded garba dancing after17 long months! And so, head nurses, nurses, ward boys, resident doctors, interns as well as senior doctors joined the celebrations dancing to the tunes of garba, exchanging sweets and roses while praying that a third wave doesn’t strike the country.
The last patient on Friday was shifted to medical nursing home after he tested negative and was on path of improvement. “Between first and second wave of Covid-19, we never had a moment when we had zero patient. This is for the first time that we did not have a single Covid-19 patient,” said Dr Ranjan Aiyer, medical superintendent of SSG Hospital.
Even those suspects on whom RT-PCR tests are being done are testing negative since last couple of days. “We had 27 suspects whose RT-PCR tests were carried out and there were zero RT-PCR positive which is also a happier moment,” said Aiyer. “We hope that the happiness is long lasting, and we are able to use the medical facilities for patients for whom it is meant,” he said.
From March 2019 when it handled the first Covid-19 case of NRI businessman from Spain till date, the public hospital had lost three nurses and one physiotherapy patient but handled over 800 Covid-19 patient at the peak. “There was not a single patient that was turned down in Vadodara city and district which saved lives of close to 10,000 people through proper Covid-19 management,” said Dr Osman Belim.
