KOCHI: For a year now, the country’s healthcare system has been wrestling an unprecedented pandemic. We can never thank our healthcare staff, especially nurses, enough for fighting battles, caring for patients more than their own families. On International Nurses Day, TNIE salutes every one of them, for their undying kindness
Since 2018, our nurses have been on a relentless fight, first against Nipah, and now Covid. Every day, they walk into work risking their own lives and those of their families. They get little gratitude, but that doesn’t stop them from saving lives. Kerala’s reduced mortality rate and efficient healthcare system even in the wake of the second wave have gathered applause from around the world. The Prime Minister and chief minister praised our nurses for reporting negative wastage of Covid vaccines, meaning, making more doses by extracting even the last bit left in the vial, while the country was reeling from a severe vaccine shortage.
Nurses claim that the negative wastage was not an overnight effort, but they were trained for nearly a week on how to save vaccine in each injection and ensure that the vaccinated person is free from any uneasiness afterwards.Anupama U, a nursing officer at General Hospital, Ernakulam, is part of the Rapid Response Team (RRT) that was the first to conduct vaccinations in the district, is rattled as she speaks of the life and death horrors they have been witnessing.
“We were trained on how different types of vaccines have to be handled, educating people on them, and more. Covishield vaccine has 10 doses in a vial. There are chances of spillage while nurses taking out or injecting the dose. So, the companies keep an extra dose, calculating this spillage factor. If we operate with extreme care, this extra dose can be used on another person. We could sometimes give 11 or 12 doses from a single vial, saving this extra dose,” said Anupama.
A vial of Covaxin carries 20 doses. Saving the spillage dose, Kerala’s nurses could give up to 21 or 22 from a single vial.Vijayakrishnan R, nursing officer (Grade B) at Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology said that their institute marked -36 per cent wastage. “Covishield has 6ml in a vial. Of that 0.5 ml has to be taken for one vaccination. If the staff is very cautious, he/she can take the exact amount and keep the spillage factor intact. In some cases, we could give 11 doses from a vial and later up to 12 doses. Though we had a vaccination centre here from February to April, the drive was stopped due to shortage of vaccine,” he said.
SCHOLARSHIPS FOR INDIAN NURSES
The Institute of Health & Management based in Australia is planning to offer D10 crore-worth (AUS-$2 million) scholarships to Indian nurses as a mark of recognition of their commitment and dedication during the pandemic. The scholarships will be offered to those undertaking the “Gateway to global nursing programme” with three pathway options. In a statement on the eve of World Nursing Day, IHM Founder and Managing Director Bijo said the dedication showed by the nurses and other health professionals despite life-threatening hardships needed recognition and support from all sections of the society. The details of the scholarships including the eligibility and qualification would be announced shortly. Each scholarship would be worth 2,000 Australian dollars.
Psychological counselling
Nursing officers are given counselling frequently by clinical psychologists from the District Mental Health Programme to help them handle the crisis. They follow up through phone calls and video calls. They also provide counselling to inpatients through video calls to keep their emotional health intact. Many of these nurses, apart from taking the two doses of vaccination, turned Covid positive, but they say the recovery chances are high. .
National attention
On May 4, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan tweeted that “the state had received 73,38,806 doses of vaccine from GoI. We’ve provided 74,26,164 doses, even making use of the extra dose available as a wastage factor in each vial. Our health workers, especially nurses have been super efficient and deserve our wholehearted appreciation!” Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on Twitter on May 5, retweeted the post, commenting, “Good to see our healthcare workers and nurses set an example in reducing vaccine wastage. Reducing vaccine wastage is important in strengthening the fight against Covid-19.