A Hospital Official Predicts Number of MERS Effected Patients to Increase in Future
Saudi authorities have already warned all the Muslims, who are planning to visit Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah in the coming day, about the deadly and infectious Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) that is once again swiftly spreading among the pilgrims. The latest in this regard came from Jakarta Post, which has unveiled that an official of Adam Malik Hospital in Medan has predicted that the number of MERS suspected patients are likely to increase in the coming days. According to him the reason behind it is that a lot of people are still going to the Kingdom to perform Umrah. The prediction came from none other than Luhur Soeroso himself, who is the Head of the Lung Department of Adam Malik Hospital.
Commenting on the fatal virus on last Sunday, Soeroso said that he has no idea when this deadly virus will come to an end, as people are still going to perform minor pilgrimage and it will continue until Haj. Shedding light on his prediction regarding MERS, Luhur said that his forecast was not only based on on-going Umrah travelling, but it is also based on latest suspected MERS cases that various hospitals in the country have recently reported. He also unveiled that nearly every day a new patient, who is suspected of MERS virus is coming to their hospital. In fact, only on Sunday eight patients from different regions of North Sumatra received the treatment of MERS in the hospital.
Last Saturday a 26-year old male was admitted in the Adam Malik Hospital around 11:00pm, who had very high temperature and also suffering from severe cough. The patient had arrived from Saudi Arabia on the very same day he was admitted to the hospital. Sairi Saragih, spokesperson for hospital said that four out of eight suspected patients of MERS were discharged after their results came negative or found to have just ordinary influenza. According to Saragih, SHN, a patient is the only case that was suspected to have MERS, but he was discharged as the test reports came negative.
Talking about the remaining four patients Sairi said that doctors had already taken their samples of throat and nasal swabs, which are being sent to a laboratory in Jakarta. The spokesperson added that they are waiting for their results, if they came negative, the patients will be allowed to go to their homes. Though, Adam Malik hospital has limited facilities when it comes to treating MERS suspected patients, but Sairi said that they are geared up to receive such patients.
Currently the hospital has only 11 isolation rooms, where MERS suspected patients can be treated, but they have already system in place if the number of such cases increases, said Sairi. On the other hand, the administration of Riau Health Agency has made it known that they have isolated three suspected-MERS patients, who came from the Kingdom at the start of this month are having respiratory problem and high fever.
