Govt docs, nurses worried about working conditions

Govt docs, nurses worried about working conditions

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:11.06.2020

As cases in government hospitals increased, more doctors have tested positive for the viral infection and government doctors and nurses expressed concerns about working conditions.

“As of now 60 of our doctors in Rajiv Gandhi Government General and related institutes have tested positive and are under treatment at ESI Hospital in Aynavaram. Five doctors have been asked to share a room. We have asked the government to provide them with separate rooms,” said TN Government Doctors Association president Dr K Senthil.

While staff nurses at Omandurar Medical College Hospital went on a short-lived flash strike on Wednesday, seeking nurse appointments to share the increasing workload, doctors’ bodies also asked for more staff at Women and Children’s Hospital in Egmore.

“We are now heavily short staffed as doctors and nurses are on quarantine.” said a doctor adding, “We worked for the government but did not get separate rooms to sleep when we have been infected. At the women's hospital many gynecs are at risk because they work closely with women in labour. They scream when they have pain and chances of droplet infections are very high,” a senior doctor undergoing treatment said. At Omandurar hospital, the nurses strike was called off after dean Dr Narayana Babu promised them to resolve the issue. According to sources, there are about 140 nurses attached to the hospital and half of them are in quarantine.

“For the 400 patients in the Covid ward, just 20-23 nurses are not enough and while on night duty, timings some time increase up to 12 hours. When we get affected, our families too are at risk,” said a nurse.