Mizoram starts shifting patients from state-run hospital to

The Mizoram government has started shifting patients from the state-run Zoram Medical College (ZMC) to convert the facility into an isolation and treatment centre for patients suspected to be infected with coronavirus, an official said on Thursday.

All OPDs in the hospital have been closed after the government's announcement to convert the only medical college in the state into an isolation and treatment facility for COVID-19 patients, ZMC director T. Lalhmangaihi said.

About 98 patients are being shifted to Aizawl civil hospital and private healthcare units, she said.

The exercise is likely to be completed by Friday, she said.

Lalhmangaihi said a 7-bedded Intensive Care Unit of the medical college has also been vacated.

The state reported its first COVID-19 case after a 50 -year-old pastor, who recently returned from Amsterdam, tested positive for the deadly virus on Wednesday.

He was admitted to the isolation ward of ZMC.

His condition is stated to be stable, Lalhmangaihi said, adding that the patient's wife and two children were quarantined in the isolation ward.

Doctors and health workers treating the patients are equipped with personnel protective equipment and also staying at a special ward at ZMC.

State nodal officer of Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme Dr. Pachuau Lalmalsawma said that 10 samples of patients with coronavirus-like symptoms were sent to Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) on Thursday for tests.