JOIN USThe severe shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for use by doctors, nurses and frontline workers treating and taking care of COVID-19 patients is not only making them vulnerable to coronavirus infection but also undermining India’s fight against the pandemic. According to Health Ministry officials, around 50 doctors and other hospital staff have tested positive for COVID-19 so far. This number will grow if they are not provided with protective gear such as masks, gloves, goggles and overalls. In hospitals in Bengal, doctors are having to make do with raincoats instead of hazmat suits and workers are wearing plastic bags instead of gloves. The least the central and state governments can do for them is to provide them with protective gear. The shortage of healthcare professionals in India has assumed dire proportions in the present crisis. At a time when every pair of trained hands is valuable, India can ill-afford to lose its doctors and other frontline workers to COVID-19.
In a rather late reaction, the government is looking to import PPE from abroad. Given the worldwide shortage of masks and gloves, this may not meet the demand at home. Efforts are on to ramp up domestic production, but it will be some time before it can be done. In this regard, some questions need to be asked of the central government. Consider this: Soon after India’s first COVID-19 case was reported on January 30, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry issued a notification banning the export of PPE from India. But a few days later, that decision was reversed. In the weeks that followed more PPE items were put on the export list, and even raw materials needed for their production were exported. It has been reported that even testing kits, of which India itself is grossly short, were being exported to China until last week. It was only last week that the government halted export of PPE. Why did the government allow export of PPE and test kits when public health experts have been warning of their shortage in India itself as the country braces for a rise in COVID-19 cases? Why was the early and sensible decision to ban the exports reversed? Who benefited from it?
Doctors on the frontline have written letters to the government and taken to social media to draw attention to the shocking state of affairs. Instead of acting resolutely to address the issues raised, the government has silenced them. Doctors in Kashmir have been warned that they could face jail time of up to six months if they complain about PPE shortages. Punishing those who are caring for our health is unconscionable.