CHENNAI: A group of 37 volunteers has been working at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) to ensure patients’ attendants don’t enter Covid wards. They have also been helping deliver food to patients.
“We have been working at RGGGH for a month, and since the first day, we have been trying to keep attendants from entering Covid wards. At any given time, at least 50 attendants would walk in and out of the Covid ward,” said Hari Krishnan, coordinator of volunteers.
Citing the Tamil Nadu Public Health Act, 1939, in his order on May 15, Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Dr TS Selvavinayagam said visitors and attendants at hospitals are not allowed to meet Covid patients in isolation wards as there is a risk of them becoming super-spreaders.
“A lot of attendants only used to wear cloth masks, and that too, not properly. Some would expose their noses and some, their mouths. This increases the risk of spreading the virus since they sit in the Covid ward and then go home and to shop,” said S Shanthi, another volunteer. Hari recalls how patients were initially angered that attendants were told to leave. “They thought no one would look after them, and began shouting at us. We had no option but to allow attendants,” he said.
Finally, on Thursday, the volunteers came up with a new rule - attendants won’t be allowed without PPE kits. “We appointed a team on each floor to check Covid wards. Slowly, attendants stopped coming as they didn’t want to buy PPE kits. We only allow attendants to visit very critical patients,” said volunteer Abdul Rahman.
He added that most attendants were hospital staff themselves. “Many sanitary staff used to also serve as attendants when patients’ relatives were unable to stay in the ward. They would charge the patient’s family for this. Ever since we implemented the PPE rule, they too left the wards as they cannot afford the safety gear.”