WARANGAL: Social media is abuzz with photos and videos of how the Covid-19 ward in Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) Hospital, Warangal, has turned into a dump yard for medical waste and how patients have been suffering because of this. Pictures of dirty washrooms are also making the rounds on various social media groups.
The attendants of Covid patients alleged that the toilets are not just dirty, they were being used by both Covid and non-Covid patients. Despite several complaints, the sanitation staff working in the Covid-19 ward were not responding, they alleged.
Meanwhile, sanitation workers staged a protest as the hospital has not been providing them with PPE kits and N95 masks. A sanitation worker, who did not want to be named, told Express that the hospital expected them to work without protection kits in the Covid ward.
“The sanitation staff work in three shifts and are paid poorly. How do they expect us to work without protective gear? We might also end up getting infected if we continue to work like this. We had appealed to higher officials to provide PPE kits to us, but there hasn’t been any response,” said a sanitation worker.
However, according to MGM Hospital officials, sanitation workers have been making baseless allegations regarding the availability of PPE kits and N95 kits. The workers are not attending to duties regularly because their wages are less and they are scared of getting infected with such a high-risk job, said officials. While the officials and workers continue to lock horns, medical waste continues to pile up inside the hospital.
Meanwhile, Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao had visited the hospital two days ago to learn about the facilities being providing to Covid-19 patients in the ward. He had advised people not to go to private hospitals for treatment.