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Suspected coronavirus patient flees Tellippalai hospital before transfer
Police have launched a search for a patient who went missing yesterday from a hospital in the north, before he was transferred to the Jaffna Teaching hospital to be checked for suspected coronavirus, officials said.
Police were acting on a complaint from the Tellippalai hospital that the patient who had last week returned from Qatar, where he was sharing a room with a Chinese national, had admitted himself with fever, cough and breathing problems. Later, he had gone missing from the hospital.
The hospital’s administrative officer said they found that the patient had gone missing when they were about to transfer him to the Jaffna Teaching hospital to undergo a further checkup to ascertain if he was infected with the coronavirus.
“We had the facilities to check and treat the patient. I was told about the incident, but the patient was not brought to our hospital,” Jaffna Teaching hospital Director T. Sathiyamoorthy told the Sunday Times.
A police team was sent to the patient’s house last evening, but he was not present. “We have also left a message at his home. He may have gone into hiding in fear,” a police officer said.