Ministers, Mayors and Bureaucrats have N95 masks but not the doctors

In a public appeal posted on Friday on social media, Resident Doctors’ Association at VMCC and Sadfarjung Hospitals in the national capital asked for donations of PPEs, which are in short supply. The appeal follows two Resident doctors at Sadfdarjung hospital testing positive for COVID-95.

The appeal points out that the medical college and the hospital together have 500 faculty members, 1,700 doctors and 2000 nursing staff. A 800-bed super specialty unit has been set aside for COVID-19 patients as Safdarjung Hospital is the nodal centre in Delhi for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. With the administration unable to procure adequate supplies, the association in desperation issued the public appeal.

The appeal states that the two institutions require 50,000 Hazmat suits, 50,000 N-95 masks, 300,000 triple-layered masks and 10,000 bottles of hand sanitisers.

The shortage of protective gear in the country was highlighted by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar as well, who claimed that the state had asked for a million N-95 masks but was supplied only 50,000 of them. As against the state’s requisition of half a million PPE kits, the Centre provided it with a mere four thousand of them; and though Bihar sought 100 ventilators, it is yet to receive one.

Reports coming in from across the country suggest that several doctors have stopped practicing and shut down their clinics in the absence of protective gear. While COVID-19 patients are referred to government hospitals, doctors and nursing staff in them are stressed and exposed to infection.

NDMC Mayor Avtar Singh Ji visited Hindu Rao Hospital, Delhi & only he is wearing recommended N95 mask rest all accompanying healthcare workers are wearing normal surgical mask. We request minister sahab to arrange N95 for Doctors too as there lives also matters

When an IAS officer wears a full PPE kit and doctors wear normal clothes and mask......I don't think Modi's promise is working here

Salary kaun donate krega?- DOCTOR'S Bina PPE kit ke kaun?- DOCTOR'S Registration kiska cancel Hoga?- DOCTOR'S Ka Work from home kaun Nahi krsakta?-DOCTORS Kiski family ko exposure risk?-DOCTORS KI Doctors ne apka kuch bigada he? Agar nahi to hamara sath do

When will our governments make healthcare a primary concern? When? Forget patients, even our doctors and medical staff are not safe!

In a report Al Jazeera recorded the growing alarm among healthcare professionals. "The doctors are also human beings. They read about death of health workers in China, Italy, UK & fear starts making a way into their consciousness. They think about their spouse & kids at home," the report quotes one of them as saying.

The Modi Government is being blamed for the shortage of PPEs. While the Government had banned export of PPEs produced in the country on January 31 this year, for unexplained reasons the restriction was withdrawn on February 8. It was only in the third week of March that the Government put the ban back in place and began the process of procuring PPEs.

Domestic manufacturers of PPEs have told the media that they were neither asked to ramp up production till the third week of March nor given the specifications till March 24.

But with the three-week lockdown kicking in on that very day, the manufacturers were hit by labour shortage, shortage of material and restrictions on the movement of trucks. Poor coordination between the Centre and the states and between departments also made it difficult to get necessary permissions, they claimed.

The public appeal has come as a grim reminder that neither clapping nor banging thalis or flashing torchlights are a substitute for arming frontline caregivers and medical professionals with the equipment to fight the disease.