The dedicated Covid hospital of the district, Bokaro General Hospital (BGH), has been badly hit by the virus with as many as 11 doctors, nurses and officials testing positive in the last 48 hours.

With the administrative head of the Covid ward also testing positive, the BGH management is hoping for support from the district administration. It wants the administration to provide BGH back-up teams of doctors from the private sector or from other government hospitals.

BGH of Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL) is a unit of Steel Authority of India (SAIL). There are 23 positive cases in the Covid ward of the hospital. Of them, five are in ICU. As on Wednesday, there were 170 patients admitted at various BGH wards.

“Some routine health services have been scaled down at the moment to manage Covid cases. We are trying our best within the available resources,” said BSL chief of communications Manikant Dhan, adding that the situation was being reviewed periodically to ensure smooth functioning of the hospital.

“Covid-19 is posing challenges for one and all and BGH is no different. We are keeping a close watch on the developments as some senior doctors have also tested positive,” he said.

The BGH administrative officer has also tested positive. He and the rest have all been sent on isolation. The officer, who got himself tested after a cold and cough, is stable.

The doctor in-charge of the Covid ward has been admitted to ICU, but he is also stable.

This is the second time when a SAIL unit has seen a spurt in Covid cases. In June, 40 senior and mid-level executives, including the chairman and a number of directors at SAIL headquarters in Delhi, tested positive for Covid-19. On June 10, Director (personnel) Atul Srivastava passed away at Delhi’s Apollo Hospital.