More than 40 nurses from Kerala who work in Wockhardt hospital in Mumbai have tested positive for coronavirus. Some reports said that the nurses were forced to treat COVID-19 patients in the beginning without taking any necessary precautions.
According to Jibin, a representative of the United Nurses Association in Mumbai, a majority of the nurses in this hospital are from Kerala. “When the first few COVID-19 cases were treated in the hospital, a few of the nurses attended to them without any precautions as they were not provided with any protective gear. Later, these nurses worked along with other staff, took the hospital van to go to their hostel and stayed in hostels with others. If they were allowed to stay in quarantine or were provided with personal protective equipment, the situation would not have been this worse," he said.
It has been a few days since more than 40 nurses started showing symptoms. Their swab samples were also taken for testing. However, according to Jibin, the nurses were orally informed by the hospital authorities, over the last three days, that they have been tested positive for coronavirus. They have not received their test reports yet, he said.
"They are undergoing treatment in the same hospital. Since this hospital has been locked down by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), nobody is allowed to meet the patients nor nobody from the hospital is allowed to come out. The hospital stopped taking new patient admissions," he added.
He also said that association is in constant touch with the nurses and they are worried. United Nurses Association (UNA) is one of the largest associations of nurses in India.
Meanwhile, UNA had approached the Supreme Court, seeking to formulate a ‘National COVID-19 Management Protocol'. The petition seeks the Central government’s intervention and financial assistance for healthcare workers as they face extreme risk at this time. The petition said that many healthcare workers in the country are affected while treating COVID-19 patients. They also sought that the Centre should make sure that every healthcare worker has protection kits in isolation wards.
