New Delhi: Shortages of protective health gear in India are forcing some doctors to use raincoats and motorbike helmets while fighting the coronavirus, exposing the weak state of the public health system ahead of an anticipated surge in Covid19 cases.
The Narendra Modi government said India was trying to get personal protective equipment in bulk domestically and from South Korea and China to meet the shortages.
Over a dozen doctors battling the outbreak, which has so far infected over 1,251 people and killed 32, told ‘Reuters’ they were concerned without gear, they could become the virus carriers. In Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, drivers of 4,700 ambulances that mainly serve government hospitals went on strike on Tuesday, demanding proper safety gear and health insurance.
“We won’t risk our lives unless our demand is met,” Hanuman Pandey, president of the Ambulance Workers Association, said . According to one projection, over 100,000 people could be infected by mid-Day, putting the nation’s underfunded health system and scarce doctors under severe strain.
In Kolkata, junior doctors at the major treatment facility — Beliaghata Infectious Disease Hospital — were given plastic raincoats to examine patients last week, revealed doctors there and pictures reviewed by Reuters. “We won’t work at the cost of our lives,” said one of the doctors, who declined to be named because he feared retaliation from the authorities. The hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr Asis Manna, declined to comment.
In Haryana, Dr Sandeep Garg of ESI Hospital said he had been using a motor bike helmet as he didn’t have any N95 masks, which offer significant protection against virus particles.
“I put on a helmet — it has a visor in front, so it covers my face, adding another layer over the surgical mask,” Garg said. India’s health ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters queries. The plight of doctors in the pandemic has cast a light on a dilapidated and overburdened public health system that has for years been starved of funds and an overhaul.
