Coronavirus: Chennai GH doctors threaten to abstain from Covid-19 duties

Pushpa Narayan & Julie Mariappan | TNN | Updated: Apr 22, 2020, 12:02 IST

Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital

CHENNAI: Resident doctors in Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital have threatened to abstain from the Covid-19-related duties from 3pm today (Wednesday) demanding better quarantine facilities. The premier hospital has an Covid-19 isolation unit.
Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniwami was holding a videoconference with doctors when this report was filed.
In a letter to hospital dean Dr R Jayanthi, the resident doctors have said that they have been working wholeheartedly serving patients in the last one month but because of poor quarantine arrangements, many resident doctors have been infected with novel coronavirus.
At least seven PG doctors have been tested positive for the infection. “It was because one of us intubated a patient in the cardiology block without PPE. No one knew the patient had been infected,” said a senior resident. The doctor returned to the PG hostel, and 10 other healthcare workers were infected now, he said.
The residents said they had requested proper arrangement for quarantine facilities as per ICMR recommendations through a letter on April 16. “Till now, we have not heard anything. The facility they have given us in Saidapet is not habitable,” said a senior resident.

The condition of a quarantine facility given to GH doctors in Chennai
We spoke about this to hospital management and medical superintendent. But nothing has changed. We have agreed to eat food cooked at the hospital mess for patients. But don’t we deserve a good clean bed and bath when we finish our duty,” asked one of the residents.
The Tamil Nadu Government Doctors’ Association has been demanding that the government follow the Madurai hospital protocol. The hospital offers PPE to doctors in emergency, ICUs and theatres.
“Doctors and nurses doing duties in isolation wards are put up in good hotels and hostels for at least 14 days. They return home only after an RT-PCR test for Covid-19 shows negative. We tell them that we care for them and their families,” said TN government doctors association president Dr K Senthil.
On Tuesday, doctors’ bodies, including IMA, urged chief minister EPS to provide PPEs and quarantine facilities for doctors, besides security and state honour to doctors who die of the viral infection.