As 26 health workers, including 21 doctors, undergo quarantine after coming into contact with an eye specialist of the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) who tested positive for Covid- 19 after arriving from Kolkata, the health department is looking into how a bulk of the medical staff were allowed to go on leave during the pandemic.

It is learnt that the NBMCH authorities are planning to show-cause them after their quarantine period is over. The 26 NBMCH staff, including professors, associate professors, nurses, and technicians, had been to Kolkata and returned in a bus on 30 April.

Thought it is learnt that all of them have tested negative for Covid-19, health department officials have said they all will remain in quarantine for at least 14 days, and that it will cause a shortage of doctors and medical staff at the NBMCH.

“It has now come to our knowledge and we are looking into this,” Darjeeling district chief medical officer of health Dr Pralay Acharya said. Most of the doctors and faculties of the NBMCH hail from Kolkata and different south Bengal districts.

“We will seek explanations as per official procedures,” said the NBMCH principal, Prof Prabir Kumar Deb.

Central team reviews visits:

The visiting central Covid team is reviewing the ground situation of areas they earlier visited to assess the Covid- 19 and the lockdown situation. It is learnt that members of the Inter Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) are also preparing reports on the status of land customs at the international borders they visited.

Earlier, the team members have expressed dissatisfaction at the violation of the lockdown, unrestricted movement of people at containment zones, and rampant movement of vehicles.

According to sources, the members, who have been stationed at the Siliguri Frontier Headquarters of the SSB since 20 April, were inquiring into whether the ground situation of the areas they had visited had changed now.

“The team members held internal meetings today and are reviewing the situation,” sources said. The IMCT had visited the Indo-Nepal border at Panitanki and Zero Point at the Indo- Bangladesh border at the Fulbari Immigration Check Post, apart from visiting treatment facilities for positive and suspected patients of Civid-19, the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, tea gardens, and shelter homes in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Jalpaiguri districts.

Kalimpong review:

The officer on special duty for Covid-19, Dr Susanta Kumar Roy, reviewed preparedness in Kalimpong district on prevention, containment and mitigation. A resident of the district was the first victim of Covid-19 in north Bengal. Dr Roy said in a meeting that focus was laid on infrastructural and manpower management.

Dad-daughter duo discharged from hospital:

A man and her 22-month-old daughter, who were earlier tested positive for Covid-19, were discharged from the Covid hospital in Siliguri today. Earlier, the man’s wife, a nurse at the NBMCH, and her mother- in-law, were also infected, but were cured a few days ago.

Tension at market:

Tension prevailed at a vegetable market, which has been shifted to the fair grounds at the Kanchanjungha Stadium in Siliguri, after some bus drivers from Kota, Rajasthan, who are in quarantine in a hall of the stadium, visited the market today. Traders and locals raised an alarm and objected to their visit. The market was temporarily closed.

Mayor for Covid hospitals in districts:

As patients from other districts and states are being admitted in Dr Chhang’s Hospital in Siliguri, Siliguri Mayor Asok Bhattacharya has said immediate steps should be taken to operationalise such facilities in other districts too.

Also, as the tenure of the present Left-run Siliguri Municipal Corporation board ends on 17 May, the Mayor’s Relief Fund will be functional till 10 May, it is learnt. Mr Bhattacharya said the funds will be used for different purposes, including buying of masks for senior citizens for all the 47 wards, and buying rice for poor people.