COVID-19 Infection among the Health Care Staff at Frontier Medical and Dental College and Hospital

Abstract

Background: First case of pandemic COVID-19 was diagnosed in December 2019 in China from where it spread throughout the world. In Pakistan, first case was diagnosed in February 2020 which resulted in a complete and several smart national lockdowns. National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) and Ministry of Health published guidelines for patient’s treatments during pandemic which includes: 1) providing only emergency Treatments 2) Patient’s pre-admittance Questioning, 3) Increasing intervals between appointment, 4) prevent crowding in waiting rooms, 5) Wearing masks at all times. 6) Wearing PPE. Methods: Data from all clinical departments of Frontier Medical and Dental College and Hospital Abbottabad was collected between March and December 2020 which included Number of; 1) Patients treated 2) Medical Staff 3) patients with positive COVID-19 reports 4) healthcare workers suffering from COVID-19. And 6) Post treatment Virus Infected patients. Results: 291 health care staff including 135 medical and dental doctors, 4 dental hygienists, 82 paramedics and 70 Administrative staff worked during the study period and 3280 procedures were performed. Out of these, thirty-eight (38) staff members treated 190 verified COVID-19 patients. During the study period 6 dentists (2.06%) and 9 (3.09%) medical doctors, 2 (0.7%) assistants and 3 (1.03%) admin staff were tested positive for the virus. Conclusion: Present study highlights the importance of education and stickiness to the infection control guidelines thus minimizing the risk of transmission of corona virus among the Healthcare professionals in hospitals. Keywords: COVID-19; Infection control, PPE, NCOC