Some attendants in ICU forcefully evicted

Some attendants in ICU forcefully evicted

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:20.05.2021 

From transferring deans of government medical college hospitals to using police force for clearing unauthorised attendants from Covid-19 wards, the government has taken stringent measures to prevent the spread.

Health minister M Subramanian said that during a visit to Salem’s Government Kumaramangalam Medical College he was upset about the isolation area not being sterile. “Deans of some medical colleges were transferred last week as they failed to follow Covid protocols. Most doctors and nurses work hard. Such violation can lead to super-spreader events and cause lot of problems. We know the present strain is highly infectious,” he told TOI.

Many relatives of patients, however, refused to leave the hospital wards. At Chennai’s Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital and Coimbatore’s ESI Hospital, some of who were removed from treatment wards and corridors, protested on Wednesday. Some of claimed there were not enough nurses and staff inside wards to take care of patients. At Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital in Chennai, attendants complained that there were only four nurses for every 100 patients in Covid wards.

While authorities denied the charges, nurses at these hospitals admitted they were under-staffed. “The entire workforce on roll is unavailable because some are infected, some are in quarantine and few others are posted in Covid care centres outside the hospital premises,” said a senior RGGGH nurse, requesting anonymity.

The protest by relatives lasted nearly two hours until police arrived to disperse the crowd. Only one attender was allowed for each patient in oxygen-supported beds or critical care units to take care of the food and other essential needs. Slips were provided to authorised attenders.

The same rule was followed at Stanley and Omandurar medical college hospitals, said doctors.

Protests by attendants of Covid patients, who were evicted, were common in hospitals in Chennai and Coimbatore on Wednesday