The Lautoka Hospital
The task to find out how the two doctors of Lautoka Hospital got infected will be looked at thoroughly to ensure there are no further cases.
A 25-year-old female doctor, presented at a screening clinic with COVID-like symptoms, and later, she tested positive for the virus.
The second, a 30-year-old male doctor, was tested as part of contact tracing for the first doctor.
Health Permanent Secretary, Doctor James Fong, says they are early into their investigation, but at this stage, the two doctors do not appear to have any links to existing cases or events of interest, such as the Tavakubu funeral.
He adds both doctors have been entered into isolation and their close household contacts have been quarantined.
Doctor Fong says they did work in the hospital, they did not work in the isolation ward where they would have had interaction with COVID-positive patients, so these cases are being treated as instances of community transmission until it is proven otherwise.
Chief Medical Advisor, Dr Jemesa Tudravu, says they will continue supporting the two and also ensure the virus does not spread further.
“We are in regular contact with our colleagues in Lautoka Hospital, given the crisis at hand. After this we will go back and have another meeting with them virtually, and we will continue to meet throughout the night if we have to just to make sure, we set in place a plan to ensure that we are able to contain the infection within the hospital that has been identified amongst our staff and still be able to deliver pour service in a safe way to the members of the public.”
Doctor Fong says they have enough staff in other places such as Rakiraki and outside of the Lautoka containment area, who can go in to help in the operations of Lautoka Hospital when the need arise.
