Govt.
version on SARS
Department of Information
17 April 2003
1. On 10th April 2003, a patient by name Shri Prasheel Wardhe,
32 years, male, married, and resident of Dhavli, Ponda, Goa,
was admitted to the SARS isolation room at Goa Medical College
Hospital (GMCH). The patient is a Marine Engineer by profession
and was in the port of Hong Kong on 26th March 2003 and in
Singapore on 30th March. He arrived in Mumbai by air on 30th
March and he came to Goa by air on 1st April 2003.
On 8th April 2003, he developed a fever and was seen by a
private doctor on 9th April 2003. He was referred by this
doctor to GMCH on 10th April 2003. The patient had a fever
of 100 F which is not considered high fever. He had no other
signs or symptoms of SARS as laid down by WHO which are cough,
shortness of breath and difficulty in breathing. However,
since he was in countries included by WHO as being countries
affected/reported with SARS, the GMCH by way of abundant precaution
decided to keep him in the isolation room. His blood, serum,
throat swab and urine samples were collected on 11th April
and sent to the National Institute of Virology at Pune on
12th April 2003 as per the procedure prescribed. Thereafter,
since the patient had no fever for 48 hours, no cough, no
breathlessness and 2 out of 3 criteria specified by WHO were
negative, the patient was discharged with the instruction
that he should remain in his house until the reports of the
samples were available. The family of the patient were informed
that they should also remain isolated and immediately report
any symptoms. His family have been taking full precautions
since then.
2. On the evening of 16th April, a message was received from
the Union Health Ministry that the samples of the said patient
had tested positive. Immediate action was taken to contact
the patient and he voluntarily admitted himself to the Isolation
Room on 16th April 2003 itself. The Goa Government immediately
contacted the officials of the Government of India and based
on their advice, the relatives and neighbours of the patient
were requested to voluntarily remain isolated as far as possible
in their homes and not to mix unnecessarily with other persons.
The Hospital staff which was with the patient during his earlier
stay have been designated to be with him this time and such
staff are not dealing with any other patients in the GMCH.
All such staff and Doctors are wearing masks throughout. The
Isolation Ward and its surrounding areas have been disinfected
and the entire area cordoned off. The GMCH is therefore totally
safe for other patients.
3. The patient is not suffering from any clinical symptoms
of SARS and he appears to be hale and hearty . He is otherwise
perfectly normal. His wife who was with him throughout on
the ship and has been with him since has not shown any of
the clinical symptoms. His family members or any other person
whom he has been in touch with in Goa have also not reported
any clinical symptoms. It would appear therefore that while
the patient does have a positive laboratory test, there is
a mis-match between the clinical findings and the laboratory
findings, and to the best of our knowledge, as at present,
no other person has been infected. It is therefore not possible
to say with full certainty that the patient has SARS.
4. However, again as a measure of abundant precaution, the
Government has consciously decided to release the name of
the patient in the public interest so that any one who has
come in contact with him should be alert as to the symptoms
of SARS and to immediately approach a medical authority should
they detect such symptoms.
5. For the information of the general public and the Press,
an Information Counter has been set up at the Casualty of
the GMCH which will be manned by a doctor 24 hours a day.
The telephone numbers are 2458700-08 and 2458144.
6. The Government of India is also sending a team of 2 Doctors
from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases and they
will be reaching Goa today at 3.00 p.m. It is to be noted
that the exact period for which the patient should be kept
in isolation is to be determined particularly since the said
samples which have been tested positive were taken on 11th
April which is almost 6 days ago. Further testing of samples
will in all probability be required. The State Government
is awaiting the guidance of the Government of India Team in
this regard.
7. The public is informed that the Government has taken full
and necessary steps in this regard but that they should nonetheless
remain vigilant. The case has been detected largely due to
the high level of awareness in this very educated State and
also due to the vigilance and alertness of the medical fraternity.
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