KOCHI: Many a time, in the face of medical crises, nurses are hailed as ‘angels in white’ for their selfless and efficient service in patient care. However, while the praise is plentiful, many hospitals in the country have not ‘walked the talk’ with regard to providing even basic support to nurses to safely carry out their duties. So pitiable is the condition in which some of them are forced to work even during these dangerous Covid times -- without as much as the basic Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) -- that cases of nurses even attempting suicide in hospitals in northern India have surfaced lately.
“Junior nurses and staff are seen making requests for PPE at the departments. But they are not provided the same. They are made to attend suspected cases and collect swabs, with just a surgical mask on. While social distancing is the key to check Covid spread, here nurses are made to travel in an ambulance without any distancing thus endangering everyone,” said a nurse from Kerala employed in a top corporate hospital in the National Capital Region(NCR)for the last 10 years.
The fear of contracting the virus while dealing with patients without the necessary protective gear is very real for these nurses. “Only those treating infected patients at the isolation wards are given PPE. The rest of the procedures, including the collection of swabs, handling asymptomatic patients and fever cases, are done without any protective gear. There were times when staff were made to wear one set of PPE for 12 hours. The stress we undergo is beyond words,” said the nurse, who did not want to be identified.
The authorities and the government are not taking adequate measures to address the issue of nurses on the frontline of the anti-Covid battle. “If the nurses do not feel secure in the circumstances they work, how can they feel confident. At many private hospitals in Mumbai, Rajasthan, and Delhi, nurses are not provided with the necessary PPE kits and many are asked to reuse them. They are forced to work in such conditions. It is as if they are being pushed into death,” said Roy K George, president, Trained Nurses’ Association of India (TNAI).
There are over 10,000 Malayali nurses working in various hospitals in Delhi and Mumbai. Their transportation and accommodation are also a serious issue. “We are fully aware that we have to live with this virus for a while. It will not be going away soon. But if the nurses, who work on the frontline to treat Covid patients do not feel secure, it will lead to a dire situation,” said George. Recently, a 22-year-old Malayali nurse attempted suicide after testing positive for Covid. She was working at the emergency department of a hospital in Gurugram. The Punalur native had tested positive on May 28. Another Malayali nurse working at Delhi’s Kalra Hospital died after contracting the virus.