Healthcare professionals treating coronavirus patients in designated hospitals are up in arms against the Union Health Ministry’s new guideline which asks them to vacate quarantine facilities if they are not showing any symptoms of the disease.
Under the previous guideline, all doctors, nurses, technicians and sanitation workers in the Covid-19 wards had to work 14 days in a row and remain in quarantine for the next 14 days to ensure that they did not take the infection back home.
However, the revised guideline from the Ministry on management of manpower in the hospitals issued on May 15 said that there was no need for quarantine of healthcare workers after Covid-19 duty, unless there had been a breach in the personal protective equipment or any other form of high-risk exposure.
The clauses in the latest guideline, however, has not gone down well with the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA) which observed a black ribbon protest on Friday demanding proper quarantine for all healthcare workers on Covid-19 duty.
Dr Shivaji Dev Barman, President of FORDA, said that we have requested the Ministry to amend the guidelines and allow us 14 days quarantine as well as testing so that we can go home without any tension. The Coronavirus can show its effect by two to 14 days.
Non-symptomatic healthcare workers have been found to be coronavirus positive in many cases even after wearing PPE kits.
A circular from Delhi’s Lady Hardinge Medical College issued on Thursday said, “Hotel facility during post-duty period in Covid-19 and suspected Covid-19 zones provided to healthcare workers is hereby withdrawn and the occupants are directed to please vacate their rooms immediately. If any overstay is noticed, charges paid for the overstay will have to be recovered from their salaries.”
The accommodation will be available to those still on Covid-19 duties at the hospital. A similar demand was at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital in Delhi.
Dr Ekta Yadav, president of the RDA at RML hospital, however, said that they were hoping that the health ministry takes back these guidelines by the time the next shift ends.
Doctors at Safdarjung hospital have negotiated a five-day quarantine for healthcare workers in the Covid-19 wards, so that they can be tested once before they go back home.
“At the hospital level, our medical superintendent has allowed five-day quarantine for healthcare workers from the Covid-19 wards, so they can stay in the hotel till they are tested once,” said Dr Manish Kumar, president of the RDA of Safdarjung hospital.
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is providing quarantine to only those who are recommended by the hospital infection control committee.
The dharamshalas of the hospital, which are used by the relatives of the patients usually, were being provided to the healthcare workers from the hospital.
“We are following the health ministry guidelines,” said Dr DK Sharma, medical superintendent of the hospital.
The guidelines define “high risk exposure” as a healthcare worker treating Covid-19 patient or handling their samples without proper personal protective equipment (PPE) or probable breach of the PPE.
It will also be required if a healthcare worker is in contact with a positive person at a distance of less than 1 metre for more than 15 minutes without masks, face-shields or goggles.