VIJAYAWADA: Government doctors have urged the state government that they must be permitted to be in home quarantine for a week after working with Coronavirus-infected patients in government hospitals for a week. This will help contain transmission of virus through them, whether to patients, health staff or even their family members, they maintained.
Most doctors and other health personnel at various government hospitals and public health centres had worked for long hours dealing with Covid-19 cases during the first wave that commenced in April 2020. They got some relief only towards the end of the year when the number of Coronavirus cases came down.
However, they have become busy again with vaccinations from mid-January 2021 and subsequent surge in Coronavirus infections from March.
Feeling overly strained, nearly 10,000-strong contingent of doctors working with public hospitals and dispensaries want the state government to come to their rescue by allowing them to take one week home quarantine after a week’s work. They feel this will enable them to take some rest and rejoin duty with more commitment towards treating Covid-infected patients.
Representatives of doctors have also cautioned that in course of providing treatment to the Coronavirus patients admitted in hospitals, they get exposed to the virus irrespective of the kind of protective gear they wear. They thus become carriers of the virus, which may or may not manifest itself depending on the viral load.
They also expressed their displeasure that kin of only six of 10 doctors who died after being exposed to Covid-19 earlier have been paid their insurance amount of Rs. 50 lakh each. They demanded that the state government release the relief amount to rest of the families too, apart from a government job on compassionate grounds.
AP Government Doctors’ Association convenor Dr. D. Jayadheer requested the state government to supply health personnel quality protective gear, including PPE kits, and ensure proper maintenance in government hospitals with regard to beds, medical equipment and other requisites for treat Coronavirus patients. He further asked people to maintain self-restraint and take all precautions to avoid becoming victims of the virus.
