As the government asked private clinics to remain open during the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors have asked if the authorities would provide them (personal protective equipment) PPEs and protect them if they contract the disease.
“We are all for opening the clinic to treat more patients,” said Dr Suri Raju, nephrologist and managing director, Regal Hospital. “But we are at a greater risk. The government is doing mere lip service by asking us to function without providing facilities.”
Neeraj Lal, vice-president and cluster head of Rainbow Children’s Hospital, said doctors, too, have a family of their own and things would only get worse if they are exposed to the deadly disease without protection.
“The state may lose doctors needed for critical care,” Lal said. “While we stand by the government, we also demand medical and protective facilities for doctors.”
Dr Upendra, director of People Tree Hospitals, pointed to the closure of
Mumbai’s hospitals after doctors and nurses tested positive. “It is a classic case of how healthcare could go for a toss without adequate care,” he said. “If a doctor is infected, it will only be a risk for hundreds of cases as we saw in Mumbai and Delhi.”
He urged the government to provide protective kits to all the private clinics and doctors. “Only then can the doctors take the fight forward,” he added.
Unanswered questions
Dr Raju asked if the government would issue PPEs, N-95 masks, protective glasses, adequate sanitisers and security to control the crowd at the OPD.
“This is the basic question the government must answer before asking us to work,” he said. He also asked if the government would assure treatment with the highest priority if the doctors get infected while treating Covid-19
patients.
“Doctors are currently at risk since patients hide their travel history,” he said. “Will the government also give priority treatment to our families if, unfortunately, they get infected through us?”
He also wanted to know from the authorities if the medical fraternity
could get police protection in the event of inevitable fatalities secondary to COVID-19.
“We want clear cut answers. Only then will we be ready (to open the clinics),” Dr Raju said.
He also pointed to the example of the Telangana doctor couple who tested positive for Covid-19 and the hospital they worked for had to be quarantined.
“The directorate in Telangana has asked doctors to close down their first aid centres,” he pointed out.
“Forcing private practitioners to open the clinics for non-emergency patients amounts to coercive action and is against the prime minister’s vision of a lockdown. If an asymptomatic patient keeps his mobile phone on a chair or his hand on the reception desk, it would affect patients coming after them.”
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