MADURAI: Were sanitary workers at the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) who shifted patients out of the old Coronavirus isolation ward and later cleaned the ward not given adequate safety gear? That is what a 35-year-old sanitary worker at the hospital, who recently tested positive for COVID-19, told Express on Wednesday. This suggests negligence that endangers the lives of the workers on the part of hospital authorities.
When questioned about the worker’s account, the hospital dean Dr J Sangumani said that the patient is a worker employed by a private company on contract-basis and that everyone posted on duty at the COVID-19 ward is being given PPE (personal protective equipment) kits as the hospital has adequate supply.
The sanitary worker, a resident of Mathichiyam and father of a three-month-old infant, has been working at GRH for the past six years. As a contract employee, he earns Rs 8,000 a month — he received a raise nearly two years ago — and is not entitled to any benefits including paid leave or insurance. Fellow workers describe him as "hard-working and committed". He is the first hospital sanitary worker in Madurai district to have contracted the Coronavirus infection. He is now being treated at the exclusive COVID-19 Superspeciality hospital (Superspeciality Block of GRH).
"A couple of weeks ago, the extended Coronavirus isolation ward, that was temporarily set up in the first floor old Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (CEmONC) block of GRH, was being shifted to the hospital's Superspeciality Block. I was not on regular duty at the ward but was called only for cleaning work for two days,” the worker told Express.
According to the worker, as part of the shifting process five sanitary workers were told to help shift the patients and clean the ward afterwards.
“On the first day, I moved all the four patients from the isolation ward to male medical ward (ward number 113) at the administrative block of the hospital. While three of them walked, I shifted the fourth patient in a wheelchair as he was unable to walk at the time,” the worker recalled.
Sources at the hospital said that as renovation works at the Intensive Medical Care Unit (IMCU) were underway, a portion of the male medical ward was temporarily converted into IMCU around that time.
"Since the workers who work at the isolation ward are usually told to take a day off the following day, I returned to work at the isolation ward on the third day. The ward was empty by then. That day, a few other workers and I cleaned the ward by mopping the floor, dusting the fans and lights. I also collected the used PPE kits that were discarded by the staff nurses and doctors, who were posted on duty at the ward, for biomedical waste disposal," the worker said.
Asked what safety gear was provided to the sanitary workers at the ward, he said, "While the staff nurses and the doctors were dressed in blue suits (PPE kits), with gloves and triple-layer masks or N95 masks, the other workers and I were only given gloves and cloth masks (stitched at the hospital) on the days of my duty at the ward.”
“Neither did they give us PPE kits and nor did we demand any, thinking that our work at the ward was only for a short duration compared to that of the duty doctors and nurses,” he said.
While the WHO guidelines on transport of patients and handling of healthcare waste recommends workers wear full PPE, Union Health Ministry guidelines on rational use of PPE place sanitation workers at moderate risk and recommend use of gloves and N95 masks.
After a day's leave, the worker was posted on duty at the triage ward (ward number 5A) where he continued to work for about a week until April 10, he said. The worker said that after reporting to work on Friday afternoon, he approached the Casualty (ward number 5) seeking medicine, as he had a mild fever.
He was subjected to tests and admitted to the COVID-19 Superspeciality hospital the same night. "Two days later, on the morning of April 12, a duty doctor informed me that I had tested positive for COVID-19 and I was shifted to the third floor from the second floor," he said, adding that the fever had subsided and he had no other symptom.
Meanwhile, the 35-year-old wife of the worker said, "Since his admission to the hospital, my daughter and I have been asked not to visit him and were told to be in home quarantine. In the meantime, we were also tested on the afternoon of April 12 and I was told that we both were free from the infection the same evening. But, it was only on April 14, at around 10 pm, that health officials came to our house and told us that my husband had tested positive for COVID-19. My husband told me he had tested positive on Sunday but I did not believe him at the time,” she said.
Elaborating on her husband's condition, she said, "Isolated and alone, he feels very anxious to return home to our daughter and keeps asking about being discharged whenever we speak over the phone (our only mode of communication). Since we do not own smartphones, he manages with the photograph of our daughter that he has on his phone. He'd tell everyone that our daughter, who was born after a three-year wait, was a true blessing and would take better care of her than I would. Now, he misses her deeply, longing to see her at least from a distance and that makes me break down,” she said.
He is stressed that he has nothing to do throughout the day to keep him engaged, with no company to speak to at the hospital, completely cut off from the outside world, said his wife. She added, "I offered to send newspapers and books to my husband, who has studied till class X, but he refused saying the hospital staff might not allow it."
The worker’s account of how his days at the isolation ward are spent suggests that GRH is not providing any counselling to COVID-19 patients who feel distressed. "I wake up at around 7am and I am given beverages and good food at timely intervals. Two others stay in the room with me but are at a good distance. I talk to my wife and I use the phone of a patient's attendant to watch movies. Otherwise, I am left with nothing to do but sit idle,” he said.
Speaking about patient care, he said that the duty doctors "ask" about his health condition and symptoms and prescribe medicines that are given by the nurses folded in a piece of paper.