Attendants of patients risk all in Covid wards

Attendants of patients risk all in Covid wards

They Walk In And Out Without PPEs

Team TOI

Chennai:19.05.2021

Government hospitals across Tamil Nadu are insisting that Covid-19 patients in the ICUs and wards should have attendants to care for them, exposing the deficiency, if not collapse, of the state’s healthcare system.

Besides putting themselves at risk through exposure to a high viral load environment, such attendants can infect their families and the public at large as they walk in and out of the hospital.

’They can cause super spreader events,” the director of public health Dr T S Selvavinayagam had said two days ago while prohibiting entry of visitors and attendants in all covid wards.

But on Tuesday, patients from several government hospitals across the state said doctors and nurses, violating all medical ethics and public health norms, told attendants to remain with the patients. These attendants are not even given PPE kits, without which doctors and nurses do not step into these wards.

TOI has photographs sourced from various districts – Chennai, Chengalpet, Coimbatore and Ramanathapuram showing attenders sitting by the bedside all day, sharing food and space on the beds with patients. In these high-infection zones, most of the attendants had neither N95 masks nor PPEs on them -- a cloth mask was their only protection against a sure-shot infection. Sometimes, attendants are made to adjust oxygen flow, remove IV drips and walk patient to toilets. That done, they venture out of the hospital to buy food for themselves. Close contacts of people in home quarantine are told to say inside to prevent spread of the infection. But in the state’s biggest hospitals, people are allowed to walk in and out, putting themselves and everyone else at risk.

“Now, no attendant wants to leave the ward because they are worried their relative won’t get care. Attendants had to alert nurses and doctors even about deaths,” said a patient relative.

One of biggest fears for most family members is that their relative would be left unattended and lonely in the ward. "My husband was moved to the ICU as soon as he was admitted because his condition was critical. After wheeling him in I was about to leave the ward, but they told me to stay. I wanted to protest, but saw an attendant for every patient. They were alerting nurses about dipping oxygen or dropping blood pressure. I didn't leave because I was scared he would die without attention," said Sathya in Chennai. Her husband died the next day. And four days later she and her sons tested positive.

At the Covid ward in Ramanathapuram GH, there were15 patients and more than 15 attendants. On Tuesday, patient attendants witnessed five deaths in the wards. Hospital dean Dr M Alli said the hospital was doing its best amidst staff shortage. “Nearly 30 doctors and nurses are positive. When cases are increasing there is only so much we can do,” she said. “We allowed attendants but when we try to regulate them, they don’t want to leave. They threaten us and we are forced to call the police,” said medical superintendent S Balasubramanian of Rajaji Government General Hospital in Madurai.

Despite the risk, many attendants say they don’t have a choice. “We have seen patients with hypoxia faint outside restrooms due to fall in oxygen saturation. I now take my dad to the toilet. I alert the nurse when he feels faint,” said Sandhya, whose 67-year-old father was admitted to RGGGH in Chennai on Saturday. On Monday, when Sandhya complained of body pain and sore throat, doctors told her she must have turned positive. “They did not do tests, but gave me medicines,” she said.

RISK OF INFECTION: Covid-19 patients with their attendants at a makeshift health facility in Chennai