VIJAYAWADA: Doctors working at Vijayawada Government General Hospital (GGH) and PG students assisting them fear that they too might fall prey to swine flu while attending to patients who are visiting the hospital with symptoms of the flu.
They accuse the hospital authorities of not providing them N95 masks, used for filtration of airborne particles. The authorities, however, claim that masks and medicines are being provided even to the attendants of patients having symptoms of swine flu.
Speaking to TNIE, a GGH doctor, on condition of anonymity, said, “Authorities at the hospital are least bothered about our safety. They don’t provide us N95 masks or tablets. The PG students who work with us are afraid of contracting swine flu. Even the preventive vaccine is not provided to us, but since we have to attend to our duties, we bought masks on our own.”
The hospital authorities provide regular masks which do not protect their wearers from infections, the doctor said, recalling how three PG students got infected with the virus in Visakhapatnam because of non-availability of N95 masks. According to officials, a few cases of swine flu have been reported in various hospitals in Krishna district.
GGH Vijayawada has treated three-four cases this season.
Responding to the allegations made by senior doctors, S Babu Lal, Superintendent of GGH, said, “We have sufficient number of masks and tablets and we are not denying them to any doctor. In my chamber itself, there are around 50 masks. I give them to the doctors who come to me asking for them. In case we run out of stock, we can buy them without any difficulty as they don’t cost much.”Currently, there are around 80 N95 masks and 300 Oseltamivir 75 mg tablets at the GGH. Swine flu vaccine is not in stock, but the GGH is in the process of procuring it.