Responding to the situation of a doctor who contracted coronavirus due to unavailability of enough personal protection equipment (PPE) at Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences, Karnataka Minister of Medical Education, Dr Sudhakar K on Saturday said that the government will take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of doctors at hospitals.
In the post, a relative of the doctor who works at KIMS, Bengaluru, said that despite her raising the alarm about the faulty PPE kits and shortages of medical masks in the hospital, the administrative medical officer did not only fail to provide enough PPEs and N-95 masks but also chastised her for raising the issue.
How the Doctor contracted coronavirus
Committed to the profession, she continued working at the hospital and carrying on her responsibilities as a doctor risking her own life. She, however, bought her own N-95 masks to protect herself when treating patients.
But on Friday, she contracted the virus herself and tested positive for COVID 19. Thinking this would make the authorities take her request seriously, she again tried to raise the issue to the medical officers at the hospital but was chastised and dismissed by the authorities again.
"Today, she tested positive for COVID-19 and she appealed to the Hospital authorities and raised her genuine concerns over the faulty protective gears, but she was again harassed and humiliated for raising the issue," doctor's relative said in the FB post.
Medical staff risking their lives to protect people
It goes without further more emphasis that doctors are our frontlines warriors who are risking their lives every day when they treat COVID-19 patients. They are hugely susceptible to contracting the virus if they are not given enough protective measures like quality PPE and medical masks.
Our doctors to population ratio (1:1800) is one of the lowest in the world. If we would continue to be benignly negligent about our first line of defence actors like doctors, policemen, etc, it won't be hard to imagine that soon we would be exposed to the danger of the world to which most of us not prepared to deal with.
Government and civil society need to make sure that our doctors are provided protective equipment needed for them to carry out their job without risking their own lives. Minister Sudhakar said that he has set up an inquiry into the matter and if found guilty, the management would be held responsible.
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