Shillong doctor with no travel history dies, pilot son-in-law clarifies he tested negative

Dr John L. Sailo Ryntathiang, owner of Shillong’s Bethany Hospital, was diagnosed with Covid-19 Monday, becoming the first case in Meghalaya.

Dr John L. Sailo Ryntathiang, who died of Covid-19 Wednesday, was the owner of Shillong's Bethany Hospital | Photo: Bethany Hospital | Facebook

New Delhi: Sixty-nine-year-old doctor John L. Sailo Ryntathiang died in Shillong due to Covid-19 in the early hours of Wednesday, the first death in the state of Meghalaya. Six of his family members have also tested positive for the coronavirus.

Dr Sailo, who completed his MBBS from AMC Dibrugarh and his MD in medicine from AIIMS, New Delhi, was well-known in Shillong as the owner of the Bethany Hospital. He had tested positive for Covid-19 in Shillong Monday.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma took to Twitter to express his condolences to the bereaved family.

I am deeply saddened to inform that the first #COVID19 positive patient in Meghalaya passed away this morning at 2:45 am. My heartfelt condolences to his family and loved ones. May his soul rest in peace.

— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) April 15, 2020

‘No travel history’

Dr Sailo had no history of foreign travel when he contracted the deadly virus, a health official who didn’t wish to be named told ThePrint. The official said he may have contracted the virus from a “silent carrier”.

“Only his son-in-law, Arthur Wungthingthing, who is an Air India pilot, had a travel history to some of the affected countries, but he didn’t have any symptoms of contamination from the virus,” the official said.

CM Sangma has, however, stated there isn’t fool-proof evidence that the doctor contracted the disease from his son-in-law, and that the investigation into the matter is still going on.

Wungthingthing had travelled from New York to Delhi on 16 March, after which he travelled from Delhi to Imphal and then went back to Delhi on 20 March, according to a letter issued by the commissioner and secretary of Meghalaya Health Department to the secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. Wungthingthing was placed under home quarantine from 24 March to 7 April.

Wungthingthing also issued a statement about linking his travel history with his father-in-law’s death, clarifying that he tested negative twice, and is now waiting to get his third sample tested. The Air India pilot, however, said that even after six family members tested positive, there had been no efforts to quarantine them, and that they were all living together under the same roof.

2,000 contacts identified

Nearly 2,000 people who were in contact with the doctor have been identified.

As soon as the doctor tested positive Monday, Bethany Hospital was sealed and the people admitted there were put in quarantine with immediate effect. The adjoining areas around the hospital in Shillong and Nongpoh were also sealed.

Before the doctor was diagnosed, Meghalaya had registered no Covid-19 cases, so the state government had partially relaxed the lockdown. But beginning Tuesday, it has imposed a 48-hour curfew in both Shillong and Nongpoh.

CM Sangma has requested citizens through a tweet to identify themselves if they had visited Bethany Hospital on or after 22 March by calling on helpline number 108. Sangma also announced that a total of 90 samples were sent for testing after Dr Sailo tested positive, and that a list of his primary and secondary contacts is being compiled. Fifty samples from his primary contact list have tested negative in Guwahati Medical College and Hospital.