Over the past few days, several healthcare workers employed in the non-COVID hospitals have tested positive for coronavirus.

The national capital reported 223 coronavirus cases on Friday, taking the tally to 3,738. The toll stood at 61, including two deaths being reported Friday.

Meanwhile, hours after the Delhi government asked heads of medical institutions to seek an explanation on how healthcare workers got infected with coronavirus, it suspended the order.

The order, issued by Delhi Health Secretary Padmini Singhla on Friday, had asked medical directors to obtain a written explanation from all staff members who have been infected “as how these persons got infected or become a contact in spite of wearing required protective gears, maintaining safe distance and following precautions prescribed for health care workers”. The order was suspended soon afterwards — amid criticism.

There are 38 Delhi government hospitals, and two — Lok Nayak and Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality — have been authorised to treat COVID-19 patients. The order had also directed non-COVID hospitals to constitute a team of doctors to assess how the person tested positive.

“It is reported that many doctors, nurses, paramedics and other staff in non-COVID hospitals are either getting infected or reported as contact to infected person, and medical directors of respective hospitals are indiscriminately sending them in quarantine either at hotels or their homes for 14 days. This practice is causing unnecessary shortage of doctors and staff at the hospitals. It seems it is happening because either hospitals are not following standard SOPs or such persons are not following guidelines prescribed for healthcare workers,” stated the order.

Over the past few days, several healthcare workers employed in the non-COVID hospitals have tested positive for coronavirus. These include Babu Jagjivan Ram, Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar, Delhi State Cancer Institute, Deen Dayal Upadhaya and GB Pant.

As private hospitals, nursing homes and clinics are running on a restricted basis, the patient load is largely being managed by the doctors at the government sector. Resident doctors across the city have been highlighting the substandard PPEs. Even on Friday, an official from the health department rejected 41 PPEs as they did not meet standards.

“The government should stop blaming the healthcare worker for the poor quality of PPEs. Every hospital should be asked to provide details of PPE utilisation per healthcare worker. It will be clear who is at fault. The poor planning and execution has resulted in spread of infection to healthcare workers,” Dr Srinivas Rajkumar T, general secretary, RDA, AIIMS, said.

Dr Anant Bhan, a researcher in global health, bioethics and health policy, said: “They are indirectly assuming that healthcare workers would willingly want to contract the transmission by not wearing PPEs… If you are a health worker and are found to be infected, before you worry about your health or that of your patients and loved ones, you need to worry about providing a written explanation of how you got infected?”