The Telangana Junior Doctors’ Association (TJDA) on Friday wrote to the State Health Minister Eatala Rajender to remove the isolation ward from Osmania General Hospital, citing that the state-run facility has reached its saturation point.
“It is the only tertiary care hospital operating fully and the isolation ward is near to the premises of Casualty, Outpatient and Acute Medical Care unit causing cross infectivity to other patients,” the worried doctors wrote.
The doctors said that OGH is “overloaded” with patients as Gandhi Hospital has been turned exclusively into a COVID-19 hospital.
As the hospitals are understaffed, the junior doctors also appealed to the government to recruit specialist doctors on an emergency basis, and to recruit senior resident doctors.
The doctors also claimed that several doctors are not receiving Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) kits, N-95 masks, and other protective equipment. “There is a deficiency in the ground level,” they wrote.
TJDA vice-president Lohith Reddy said, “While the doctors in Gandhi Hospital are receiving all the necessary protective equipment, it has come to our notice that the doctors in other hospitals are not receiving the same regularly.”
Earlier this week, TNM had reported about close to 30 PG students boycotting their duties as they were exhausted with the work. The students from the general medicine unit alleged non-cooperation from other departments in handling the crisis. As the other departments didn’t offer them support, the students abstained from their work for at least three days.
The protesting students had demanded that the hospital administration should either make recruitments or the other departments should give a lending hand. With the decline of both these pleas, the students boycotted work. The administration then appointed interns in their absence to handle the crisis.
TJDA blames the centralisation policy adopted by the state government for the overburdening in OGH. As Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad has been handling only COVID-19 cases, the other cases have been diverted to OGH. This has resulted in overcrowding in the hospital. The TJDA had previously during the protest, demanded the government to decentralise the handling of COVID-19 cases.