Over 100 MBBS students from China to be quarantined

Hyderabad: Over 100 MBBS students studying in Wuhan in China are returning to Hyderabad in the next one week, but they will not be allowed to go home for at least two weeks, because of the screening tests for coronavirus outbreak in the Chinese city. The Ministry of Health has made arrangements for three screening and two quarantine centres in Hyderabad for the purpose.
The fear of coronavirus has impacted not just the business houses that are connected to Chinese firms, but also the homes of thousands of medical students studying in China. According to an estimate by the Telangana health department, around 5,000 students from the two Telugu speaking states are pursuing MBBS in several universities in China and a few hundred of them are in Wuhan.
There is a large presence of Chinese electronic and mobile firms in Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh and hundreds of their employees frequently commute between the two countries. Since 15 January this year, around 59,000 air passengers who came from China were screened at Shamshabad International Airport in Hyderabad and all of them were cleared. However, another 11 Indians who came from China before them were suspected to show symptoms of the virus and two of them have been cleared so far and the rest are still under observation. The Ministry of Health teams that visited Hyderabad early this week sanctioned two quarantine and treatment centers at two government hospitals—Gandhi Hospital and Chest Diseases Hospital, Erragadda, in the city.
“We are getting dozens of test kits for the purpose as we expect a large number of students and others to return to India in the coming days. We are setting up two coronavirus treatment centres with 100 beds each in the two hospitals,” Telangana Medical and Health Minister Etela Rajender told this newspaper on Friday. Earlier, the minister held talks with the Central health teams.
The minister was responding to concerns of families of around 58 MBBS students who would be leaving Wuhan by this weekend to return to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. “We are arranging special flights for their return and set up screening and quarantine centers at Delhi and Hyderabad; so there is no need for concern over their health,” he explained.
All medical colleges in Wuhan have declared holiday and the students were asked to leave for their homes for a month or so. A Telugu speaking medical professor in a Wuhan university has been detected coronavirus positive and the government has so far spent a good amount of money (around Rs 1.50 crore) on her treatment since last one month, sources in the health ministry said.
The Ministry of Health is dealing with the problem at two levels. First, to address the concerns of students and employees now returning from Wuhan and surrounding areas and, second, on ways to treat them back home. Besides, hospitals are filled with people in panic who are rushing even for symptoms of common flu, thus filling the inpatient wards.
According to an official from the health department, these students will first be tested at Delhi airport and then again at one of the two quarantine centres in Hyderabad. “We will not allow their parents to see them for two weeks until they are cleared of the virus symptoms,” said a government doctor at Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad. Some doctors are trained and medicines have been rushed to the hospitals.
Even in Wuhan, these medical students are locked in special rooms cut off from the outside city and are monitored for their symptoms. “We are not allowed to go to our colleges as classes are suspended since early January. We are shifted to buildings away from the college campus and are visited by doctors,” a Telugu speaking student from Ganzhou medical college told on phone a news channel in Hyderabad.
According to these students still locked in different Chinese cities, the streets in the virus-affected areas wore a deserted look and traffic on roads is minimal. All public places like restaurants and cinemas are shut and foreigners are not allowed to move around on roads. Students want the Centre and state governments to see that their studies are not affected due to the coronavirus outbreak. Concerns are voiced on the business front, too, as the transactions at Chinese firms are expected to be hit for at least a few weeks. “Now, no one is allowed to travel to China, especially to Wuhan and Chinese executives cannot come to India at least till the virus is controlled. This will definitely affect our operations,” said an Indian executive working for a Chinese mobile firm in Hyderabad.