Chinks in their armour: Doctors fume over lack of protective gear

Team TOI

30.03.2020

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought to the fore that all is not well with the country’s medical staff. A dozen doctors in five states have contracted the highly contagious virus — mainly due to lack of masks, gloves and personal protection equipment (PPE) — and there are many resident doctors and interns who feel they, as the frontline medical soldiers who handle patients every hour, are “sitting ducks”.

In Kolkata, young doctors are upset as they have to run fever clinics wearing plastic raincoats. “We know there is a scarcity of PPEs. But if one of us is infected, it will be a blow to the morale of the fraternity,” said a doctor who is part of the Covid-19 team at the Medical College Hospital in Kolkata. (Experts say plastic raincoats offer protection against viruses, but should be customised and discarded every 4-5 hours).

“Do you send soldiers on the warfront without guns? Then why are you sending doctors to fight this war without proper kits,” said Dr Ravi Ranjan Kumar Raman of Nalanda Medical College and Hospital in Patna.

“My parents and sister cry every day when I leave for work. They ask me not to go to the hospital but I can’t skip my responsibilities. Somewhere in my heart, I know that even if I die, it won’t affect the system,” said Dr Raman.

Junior doctors at Nalanda believe they are sent to the front line “while senior and experienced doctors are on the back foot”. In Chennai’s private hospitals, resident doctors are “absconding” from work saying their parents don’t want them to report for duty.

This nurse has to make do with a plastic raincoat at Government Doon Medical College

TN may extend MBBS internship by a month to tackle corona crisis

The central health ministry and state governments had a two-month notice about Covid-19 in the form of the goings-on in China’s Wuhan province where over 3,000 died in three months. Yet, the task of gathering PPEs, special N95 masks and gloves has been sluggish in all states. A central health ministry drew up a wish-list just 10 days ago, stating the country needs 7.25 lakh body overalls, 60 lakh N95 masks and one crore three-ply facemasks.

The fear of contracting the virus is so high that NMCH Junior Doctors’ Association wrote to the Bihar principal secretary (health) on March 25, asking senior doctors from other government medical colleges and private hospitals be put on duty while junior doctors be kept as “reserved manpower”. Bihar has 11 COVID-19 patients at present.

They alleged their principal had quarantined himself in his home and has ignored their demands. “All Covid-19 positive people are in NMCH, still we do not have hazmat suit and mask. Instead, we have been given normal gown worn in operation theatre. Our principal has also stopped coming now for his safety and has left us to die,” said another junior doctor.

The PPE shortage is compounded by the shortage of manpower, again resulting in student doctors being forced to put in extra hours. Holidays have been cancelled for all doctors, including residents who are required to work 24-hour shifts once or twice a week.

In Tamil Nadu, the directorate of medical education has asked deans of medical colleges to extend the oneyear internship of MBBS students by another month so that they can help out in tackling the Covid-19 crisis.

Makers of protective equipment lock horns with Centre

Indian makers of personal protective equip ment have asked the government to change certain guidelines for manufacturing of PPE, including allowing them to “self-attest” their products instead of getting them tested at a lab, claiming time could be saved in the race to protect healthcare workers fighting Covid-19.

Textiles minister Smriti Irani, however, told TOI that no norms would be relaxed as utmost precaution needs to be taken. The letter to the government from two health-sector associati- ons has demanded that the requirement for ma- ndatory testing of protective gear at the SITRA lab in Coimbatore be lifted to avoid delays. TNN