CHENNAI: Nearly a week after six patients at Apollo Speciality Cancer Hospital in Nandanam tested positive for cholera, the health department has ruled out the centre being the source of the infection.
Lab tests by the state food safety department – results of which were released on Tuesday – found no contamination in the food and water samples collected from the hospital last week.
As all the patients who tested positive for cholera are from outside the city, public health officials have now turned their attention to kitchens in service apartments that cater to them.
Officials are now undertaking awareness campaigns in these ‘community kitchens’, teaching people how to maintain hygiene. They have also asked hospitals to educate patients and their attendants. Officials from the directorate of public health, along with Chennai corporation and food safety department, are also drawing up a list of city hospitals that have long-staying patients from across the country and abroad.
While six patients from Apollo Speciality Cancer Hospital had tested positive for the highly contagious infection early last week, the hospital’s main branch on Greams Road had notified a fresh case on Saturday. The condition of all the patients is stable.
The health department, in the meanwhile, will step up measures to check water contamination in the city. “We have contained the infection. No other case has been reported in the city or state,” said director of public health Dr K Kolandaisamy.
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