Coronavirus: Lifesavers' cup of woe runneth over

Trouble shooters are now facing trouble. At the forefront of the fight against COVID-19, doctors are now facing challenges in going about their day-to-day lives.

First, it was ostracism in some localities from their neighbours, who feared that the doctors and health workers might be carriers of the virus that has brought the world down on its knees, and now there have been reports of medical practitioners contracting the infection from patients.

One such case has been reported in Tamil Nadu where a 29-year-old doctor with Southern Railways and her 10-month-old boy were tested positive for COVID-19 after the medical professional came in contact with a patient.

Similar cases were reported from the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi where six doctors and eight other support staff exposed to COVID-19 patients were sent into quarantine after one of the nurses developed a fever.

“We are doing the work, regardless of personal safety... and have been at the receiving end,” said Dr Avinash Bhondwe, President, Indian Medical Association-Maharashtra State.

In Kashmir, doctors treating COVID-19 patients have sought hostel accommodation, fearing that they might infect their family members with the virus.

Similar instances have been reported in the national capital, prompting the Delhi government to make arrangements for stay of doctor and para-medical staff at hotels.

Health Secretary Preeti Sudan has asked health secretaries of states to make arrangements for doctors and field workers stay at hostels of medical colleges attached to hospitals or hotels

Doctors from COVID-19 affected states such as Delhi, Telangana, Gujarat, Maharashtra have complained of harassment by neighbours and landlords forcing doctors’ associations to appeal to the government for intervention.

“I am myself a doctor being threatened in my society. Please help Narendra Modi Sir,” Sanjibini Panigrahi, a Surat-based doctor said on Twitter tagging the Prime Minister. Some over cautious landlords also asked their tenant doctors to vacate flats apprehending getting infected by them.

State governments launched a crackdown against errant landlords and housing societies, threatening them to lodge penal action under the law for obstructing a public servant in discharging their duties.

Besides fighting social stigma, doctors also run the risk of contracting the disease themselves, particularly due to the lack of adequate personal protection equipment (PPEs) such as coveralls, masks and gloves.

Doctors across the country took to social media to flag the shortage of PPEs, a bulk of which is imported and supply chains had come down to a trickle owing to surge in global demand.

Faced with a challenge, the government tweaked certain rules to allow local manufacturers to make PPEs without compromising on quality and safety.

A section of doctors at government-run hospitals in West Bengal alleged that they were getting “substandard” personal protective equipments which put them at risk of getting infected.

“Such equipments are very limited in terms of offering protection from the virus,” said a doctor of West Bengal government-run hospital.

In Kerala, doctors have suggested a three-layer system wherein one set of doctors would be in actual contact with the COVID-19 patients with other two batches involved in other related activities.

In case anyone doctor or health worker handling COVID-19 patients shows any symptoms of infection, the entire team needs to be quarantined which could paralyse the workforce of the entire hospital.

The north-east, so far appears to be insulated from the outbreak with the region reporting only two cases of COVID-19 – one each from Manipur and Mizoram.

Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh had reported suspected patients some of whom discharged after tests.

In Bihar, the Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) in the State Capital has been made the State’s dedicated COVID-19 hospital with around 700 beds for corona patients. The junior doctors and postgraduate medical students, besides interns, have protested the Bihar Government’s decision to put them in the frontline, instead of senior and experienced doctors.