HC picks holes in Telangana claim on PPE as doctors test positive

HYDERABAD: Taking a serious view of 37 doctors working in state-run hospitals testing Covid-19 positive, the Telangana high court on Thursday wondered how could they contract the coronavirus when the government was claiming to be supplying personal protecting equipment (PPE) and other safety material for the benefit of its doctors, nurses, paramedical staff and other health workers.
A bench of Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy asked the government to come up with a response within four days on the reasons behind so many doctors getting infected and thereby posing risk to patients. The bench was hearing a batch of PILs that raised concern over the alleged lack of gloves, N-95 masks and other components of PPE kits.

Advocate general BS Prasad informed the court that the government has been supplying adequate PPE kits to the doctors and nurses. “There is no dearth of equipment,” he said. Refuting this claim, Chikkudu Prabhakar, counsel for one of the petitioners, said that as many as 37 government doctors testing positive for the virus was a clear indication of lack of proper PPEs for them.
“The government is not even testing the primary contacts of positive patients. Lack of PPEs is also result of such an approach,” the counsel argued. The bench, which last week had heard pleas that questioned the government’s lack of testing for Covid-19, posted Thursday’s case to June 8.
When the state counsel promised to furnish a comprehensive report covering all these aspects, including the reasons behind the government doctors testing positive, the bench directed him to file the report by June 8.
The bench, it may be recalled, had sought reports from the government in the previous hearings on the quantum of PPE kits it is supplying to the medical staff along with details of their quality. The bench, while hearing another plea on lack of adequate tests, had sought to know from the government the rationale behind its decision to convert red zones like Suryapet and Nirmal into orange first and then to green zones later.
The decision of the state government to not test the bodies of patients in the government hospitals was already set aside. A coordinated bench had earlier directed the government to allow the rich people to get themselves tested at ICMR-approved labs when the state said it would allow tests to be done only at designated labs.