The Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital (DMH) in Pune designed its special Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) policy way back in March when the first COVID-19 cases began to emerge in the country.
According to the policy, the medicos at DMH ditched the synthetic polythene PPE kits and opted for regular scrubs, green cloth gowns, N95 masks and scuba diving goggles instead, reported Pune Mirror.
Explaining DHM's move, Dr Sammer Jog said, “SARS-nCoV2 is transmitted mainly in the form of aerosol and fomites. This makes it necessary to protect the five orifices on the face, namely, the two eyes, the nostrils and the mouth. WHO gave guidelines on the use of mask. Working on this, we designed our special PPE policy.”
Jog added that the policy has been cost-effective, sustainable and eco-friendly. “We can definitely say that the policy is safe, not compromising on any scientific principle," he further said.
Medical Director of DMH, Dr Dhananjay Kelkar, said that the plastic PPE kits lead to a lot of sweating and can get particularly difficult to deal with in places where there is no air conditioning. It also constrains people from using washrooms, he said.
"For Ebola, it was necessary to use the plastic PPE, but COVID-19 does not require it, as our own experience has shown,” Kelkar said.
Meanwhile, Pune district reported 2,543 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, taking its case tally to 1,29,569, a health official said.
The death toll in the district reached 3,200 with 96 people succumbing to the infection during this period, he added.
"Of the 2,543 cases, 1,224 were from the Pune Municipal Corporation limits, which has recorded 76,157 patients so far. However, 1,168 patients were also discharged from the hospitals in the city," he said.
785 new cases were recorded from Pimpri Chinchwad where the case count now stands at 36,863.
(With PTI inputs)
