NEW DELHI: Staffers at the Covid-19 quarantine ward in Lok Nayak Hospital continue to have problems dealing with the corona-positive patients there, mainly people infected when attending the Tablighi Jamaat conference in Nizamuddin in March. The latest incident involved a female orderly, who claimed to have been heckled and had her PPE suit torn by the patients when she was distributing food.
On April 20, Suman (name changed), an orderly nurse, was in ward 27 to serve food to the patients. Narrating her version to TOI, Suman said, “I reached the second floor with another ward boy and the food cart and found the patients standing at the gate. Initially I thought they were waiting for food, but they assaulted the ward boy who ran away, leaving me behind. I thought they wouldn’t do anything to me, but they heckled me, saying, ‘This food is cold, you eat it. Your children and family will die’. No security guards or policemen were present.”
Suman claimed to have run past the patients when some caught her and tore her suit. She fled screaming for help and informed a senior doctor. “I have now given a written complaint and everyone in the hospital knows about the incident, but my complaint has not been forwarded to the cops as far as I am aware.”
TOI made several calls and send text messages to J C Passey, director of Lok Nayak Hospital, for his comment on these allegations, but received no response.
Hospital employees alleged that the patients often “targeted staffers near the bathrooms or during housekeeping chores” to escape the scrutiny of security guards. Some of them claimed to TOI that they had registered complaints, but no action had been taken.
Other women involved with housekeeping duties, like Suman all class IV employees, refused to be named, fearing loss of their jobs. One woman, who has been working in the hospital for four years, alleged, “While I was doing my housekeeping duties, the patients made weird gestures. I ignored them and continued doing my work. But when I entered the bathroom to clean it, a man suddenly came from behind and grabbed my gown. I ran and informed my superior, who castigated me and said I would be marked absent if I didn’t complete the cleaning.”
The traumatised woman said they only earned Rs 10,000-12,000 but still could not afford to lose these jobs and so they suffered in silence. “I wish the authorities would at least ensure a guard outside when we clean the washrooms,” she mumbled.
Some others also spoke of having to do more than their jobs demanded. “Packing the bodies of patients is not our job, but the nurses sometimes ask us to do it,” said one. “None of us has been tested for the virus so far in a hospital where the dietician and a cook have tested positive.”
On April 20, Suman (name changed), an orderly nurse, was in ward 27 to serve food to the patients. Narrating her version to TOI, Suman said, “I reached the second floor with another ward boy and the food cart and found the patients standing at the gate. Initially I thought they were waiting for food, but they assaulted the ward boy who ran away, leaving me behind. I thought they wouldn’t do anything to me, but they heckled me, saying, ‘This food is cold, you eat it. Your children and family will die’. No security guards or policemen were present.”
Suman claimed to have run past the patients when some caught her and tore her suit. She fled screaming for help and informed a senior doctor. “I have now given a written complaint and everyone in the hospital knows about the incident, but my complaint has not been forwarded to the cops as far as I am aware.”
TOI made several calls and send text messages to J C Passey, director of Lok Nayak Hospital, for his comment on these allegations, but received no response.
Hospital employees alleged that the patients often “targeted staffers near the bathrooms or during housekeeping chores” to escape the scrutiny of security guards. Some of them claimed to TOI that they had registered complaints, but no action had been taken.
Other women involved with housekeeping duties, like Suman all class IV employees, refused to be named, fearing loss of their jobs. One woman, who has been working in the hospital for four years, alleged, “While I was doing my housekeeping duties, the patients made weird gestures. I ignored them and continued doing my work. But when I entered the bathroom to clean it, a man suddenly came from behind and grabbed my gown. I ran and informed my superior, who castigated me and said I would be marked absent if I didn’t complete the cleaning.”
The traumatised woman said they only earned Rs 10,000-12,000 but still could not afford to lose these jobs and so they suffered in silence. “I wish the authorities would at least ensure a guard outside when we clean the washrooms,” she mumbled.
Some others also spoke of having to do more than their jobs demanded. “Packing the bodies of patients is not our job, but the nurses sometimes ask us to do it,” said one. “None of us has been tested for the virus so far in a hospital where the dietician and a cook have tested positive.”
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