Hyderabad Covid patient spits gargled water on Gandhi hospital ward boy

Hyderabad: Enraged after an argument with Gandhi hospital staff, a coronavirus positive patient chose to ''settle scores'' by taking a large sip of water in his mouth, gargling it and then spitting it out of the window of the seventh floor of the hospital, which ended up falling on a ward boy walking below.

While the shocked ward boy cleaned himself with Dettol and also got into a disinfectant tunnel to sanitize himself, the police along with the Gandhi hospital staff issued a stern warning to all the patients against spitting out of the windows or anywhere in the wards.

Hospital sources told Deccan Chronicle that one coronavirus positive patient, who recently tested negative, was discharged from the hospital yesterday afternoon. While he was leaving, he handed over a bag containing some medicines to another patient, who tested positive and is undergoing treatment in Gandhi hospital.

Trouble began after a security guard posted on the seventh floor of the hospital -- where all coronavirus positive patients are kept -- raised objection to handing over of the bag to the virus positive patient. The guard said that it was against the rules and there was a risk involved if one patient shared his belongings with the other.

But the man, aged around 60, was in no mood to pay heed to the requests. The elderly man lost his temper and began abusing the security guard even though the guard tried to explain to him that sharing of personal belongings could be risky.

On hearing commotion, police constables posted on the floor intervened and tried to calm down the man. Eye-witnesses said that the patient kept hurling insults, using filthy language for about an hour.

However, hours later, the man was still angry after which he took a large sip of water, gargled it and spit it out of the window of the seventh floor even as others in the ward were watching him. The spittle landed on a ward boy on the ground floor, who happened to be walking towards the main gate of the hospital. He looked up immediately to see from where the water droplets landed on him and spotted some people standing near the window. Due to the distance, he could not clearly make out who it was.

Worried, he first approached the security guards and informed them about the incident and then rushed to get himself sanitised.

''He first cleaned himself with Dettol and was then made to walk through the disinfectant tunnel to sanitize himself. He is still worried and is in touch with the doctors,'' sources said.

Subsequently, enquiries by the staffers revealed that it was the same man who entered into an argument with the staffers earlier in the day, who had spit from the window.

''We learnt that it was a deliberate act. But since the man was coronavirus positive and was undergoing treatment, the policemen warned him and also other patients on the seventh floor,'' they said.

Sources however said that many patients are frustrated as there is a delay in the arrival of medical reports and even discharge of patients. ''But we are also working in the most trying circumstances and incidents like these (spitting) can prove deadly for all staffers and even patients,'' a hospital staffer said.

Ever since the COVID-19 positive patients and those suspected to have been infected began arriving in Gandhi hospital in large numbers, spitting by the patients had become a huge concern for the staff.