Health workers engaged in fighting Covid-19 in the country are continuously getting infected with the deadly virus.
The Union Health Ministry on Thursday shared the alarming situation of healthcare in a few States blaming lax infection control in hospitals. “There is a need for stringent containment measures in areas where health professionals reside to safeguard them,” said Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan here on Thursday.
He said that in Telangana, the healthcare workers’ positivity is 18 per cent, 16 per cent in Maharashtra, 14 per cent in Delhi, 13 per cent in Karnataka, 12 per cent in Puducherry and 11 per cent in Punjab.
These are the States where the positivity rate among healthcare workers are on a higher side, Bhushan told reporters at a press briefing when asked on the health status of the doctors amid Covid-19 pandemic.
However, the Government maintained silence on the health situation of the doctors in States like Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat which are reporting a spike in cases.
According to the data available from the Ministry, while Maharashtra reported 292 deaths among healthcare workers, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu had 46 and 49 deaths, respectively.
Concerned at the plight of the health workers, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) too wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently drawing his attention to over 87,000 healthcare workers who have got infected with Covid-19 and another 573 who have lost their lives and called for more care for their welfare.
“Healthcare manpower is precious. Uniform practices have to be put in place throughout the country. Substantial differences are noticed from district to district in how doctors and healthcare workers are deployed. Their service situations differ and mostly reflect the logistics of the district,” the IMA letter to the PM said.
The IMA further said, “Districts are not sensitive to the safety and the concerns of stress and fatigue of medical manpower. Deploying doctors 24x7 without intermittent quarantine periods or long working hours in PPE for Covid care is not the same as 24x7 Covid control from safe offices.”