Hyderabad: So far, as many as 10 senior resident government doctors and many private doctors have quit and are on a break until the pandemic is over. About 70 private nurses too have not reported to duties. As the positive Covid-19 cases are reaching a new high every day, the dire lack of sufficient doctors and paramedical staff continues to plague the hospitals in Telangana.
Doctors and nursing staff quitting their duties is adding to the acute shortage of staff in these hospitals. Lack of safety gears, insufficient salaries and insurance unavailability, fear of infecting the family members – are being cited as main reasons for their resignation.
Furthermore, the private hospital paramedical and medical staff treating COVID are equally demoralized with the poor safety equipment available. As many as 300 medical staff is known to have contacted the virus. The junior doctors’ strike at Gandhi Hospital last month had exposed several issues being faced by the hospital staff, including lack of safety gear and other infrastructure. Now, the lack of manpower adds to the already existing issues.
Meanwhile, June 27 had marked the death of the Head nurse of Chest Hospital, Victoria Jayamani, who was supposed to retire in next four days. The nurse died as she encountered virus. She was at high risk as she had high blood pressure and diabetes- both co-morbidities of the Coronavirus, yet she was forced to work as the cases kept on increasing. Her husband had also tested positive and is now under treatment.
The healthcare experts opine the increase in the testing rate with no sufficient staff available at the hospital is not ideal. The sheer nonchalance on the issues of the frontline workers would surely prove costly to the government.