Coronavirus pandemic has gained stronghold in the South Indian state of Telangana. Almost 10 senior doctors from government hospitals and 70 nurses from private hospitals have given resignations dreading their safety due to poor protective gear.

The resident doctors are very disappointed with the poor state-of-affairs at the hospital and the approaching threat of contracting the coronavirus infection. The medical staff have decided to take a temporary sabbatical from their profession till the outbreak decreases. The doctors who have resigned are from Osmania Medical College (OMC) and Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) hospital, Warangal and other hospitals.

The resignation was given amidst the reports as more than 300 medical professionals in the state are affected by the coronavirus. The healthcare workers have mentioned the substandard protective gear and fear of contracting coronavirus as the reasons for quitting their jobs. Some doctors assigned from OMC to Chest Hospital never reported for duty and others assisted for one or two months before giving their resignation.

A vast number of the doctors and nurses have resigned mentioning safety concerns and collapsing healthcare infrastructure as COVID-19 cases are increasing in Telangana. The poor quality of personal protective equipment given to the frontline staff in Telangana and therefore a huge number of them have contracted the coronavirus, which has forced many other doctors to take an temporary leave from their jobs.

Many doctors and nurses are disappointed as they could not be of any help to the ill patients. One of the senior resident doctors who resigned from the OMC, said that the problem is not only the threat of infection but they didn’t get proper personal protection equipment (PPE) kits, so it looked like a waste of their effort. Even though a patient was dying in front of them, they couldn’t do anything.

Despite being disturbed with the guilt of resigning in the midst of an uncontrolled coronavirus crisis, the doctors appealed that their presence or absence did not matter.

As the pandemic is slowly surging in the country, Telangana, is one of the worst affected states in the southern part of India. The total number of coronavirus cases in Telangana has risen to 22,300 with the fatalities reaching 288.

A study by Professor Shamika Ravi has shown that Telangana is a combination of exponential rise in daily fresh cases and poor testing that is as low as 19 confirmed cases per 100 tests. It was also reported that a female doctor, who had contracted coronavirus while treating other patients, had to pay over Rs 1 lakh for a single day treatment at a private hospital. In a video, which went viral, she said that the hospital kept her hostage and the nurses also misbehaved with her.

Source: OpIndia