VISAKHAPATNAM: As many as 10 nurses have been posted on deputation at the Government Hospital for Chest and Communicable Diseases in Visakhapatnam, and 10 more are likely to be posted within a day or two in view of shortage of nurses at the institute.
Officials swung into action following a report published in The New Indian Express on March 31. The report mentioned that six nurses had to be quarantined after they fell ill due to stress they endured while working at the hospital. The nurses had said they were on the job for more than eight hours a day and were not given weekly off days. They alleged that they were staying on the hospital premises and away from their familes, which added to their stress.
Now, 10 nurses have been deputed to the hospital and 10 more are likely to be posted. When TNIE published the report on March 31, the institute had only 23 nurses, and they had to cater to the patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19 and housed in the isolation ward as well. With the strength of the nurses set to shoot up from 23 to 43, the pressure on the staff is expected to be eased, said the State president of the nurses association Nirmala Kumari. She further thanked TNIE for bringing the problems of nurses to the fore.
Meanwhile, Joint Collector L Shiva Sankar, at a review meeting on isolation wards, sought details of the requirement of nurses at various hospitals. He said the government would soon call for a notification to recruit nurses and other medical staff to meet the requirement.
Nurse count to go up by 20