Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital nurses to go on strike today

Capital records highest single-day jump with 427 cases; no deaths reported

04/05/2020, STAFF REPORTER,NEW DELHI

Doctors and medical staff thank the Defence Forces for showering petals on them at the Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital in New Delhi on Sunday.R. V. Moorthy

The number of COVID-19 cases in the Capital on Sunday saw the highest single-day jump for the second consecutive day with 427 new cases, said government officials. However, no deaths were reported. The latest health bulletin by the Delhi government stated that 1,362 people have recovered and 64 have died so far.

On the other hand, nurses at Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital in north-west Delhi said they would go on strike on Monday after the administration failed to address their demands.

Nurses demand

In a letter to the Medical Director of the hospital on Sunday, the nurses asked for separation of COVID-19 suspected and non-suspected patients, making PPEs available to all, provision of quality quarantine facilities for healthcare workers, insurance cover for treatment of medical staff among other issues.

A spokesperson for the union said nurses were “treated differently” at the hospital.

For instance, after a technician tested COVID-19 positive, doctors who came in contact with him, were quarantined but the nursing staff were “posted back to duty without getting tested negative”, the letter reads.

It also alleged that the nurses, who tested positive for the virus, were being “dumped at quarantine centres with no facilities”.

“This is the honour we get for being a part of hospital services and on the front line,” the letter reads. Their demands also include the provision of decent isolation facilities for those who tested COVID-19 positive, provision of hotel accommodation for nursing staff working in COVID-19 areas, private hospitalisation of nurses who develop symptoms, sanitisation of premises, and reduction in the percentage of staff on duty to control exposure to the virus.

Six doctors test positive

Nine people, including six doctors, in connection with two hospitals — Hindu Rao Hospital (HRH) and Kasturba Hospital — run by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, were found COVID-19 positive on Sunday.

The persons, who had come in contact with the patients, have been put in quarantine, said officials, adding that their samples have been collected.

The nine patients were already in quarantine, said north civic body spokesperson.

Earlier, a nurse from NRH and a first-year postgraduate student from Kasturba Hospital were tested positive for the virus following which the hospitals were sanitised, said officials