While most of us have stocked up on face masks and hand sanitizers, it’s the healthcare industry that really needs safety gear during these troubled times. According to NDTV, a doctor who treated a Coronovirus-infected man tested positive for the virus recently. Amid this pandemic, medical professionals are most vulnerable to the contagious infection. And, with over 400 positive cases recorded in India, the absence of protective equipment for doctors can be very dangerous.
According to the Times of India, health care personnel in India are in a dire need of quality personal protective equipment (PPE). The shortage of supply has been caused as manufacturers haven’t received any guidelines from the health ministry with regards to the production of protective gear.
Doctors, who are risking their lives for others, have urged PM Modi for better safety equipment:
Please help me to reach my voice to PM @narendramodi to provide adequate personal protection equipments to all healthcare workers. Applause with Tali Thali is good but please provide #MasksBeforeApplause #PPEsBeforeApplause #MasksForDocs pic.twitter.com/BGsyE3U437
— Harjit Singh Bhatti (@DrHarjitBhatti) March 21, 2020
Medical staff members have also taken to twitter to give a detailed account of their current situation:
I’m an intern in a government hospital in Maharashtra & in my hospital we have to try really hard to find even a basic mask to wear, other stuff like gloves, sanitizers are nowhere to be found while we need these the most in these times when many Corona suspects who complain…
— Dr. Jigsaw (@itrollmuggles) March 21, 2020
of symptoms like cough, fever & have a travel history regularly come to our hospital. We’re daily exposed to so many people & we feel scared, we still go to the hospital. The hospital should be regularly cleaned thoroughly, every person walking in should be compulsory made to..
— Dr. Jigsaw (@itrollmuggles) March 21, 2020
clean hands with sanitizer at door itself, we (all the doctors, nurses) should be provided with proper supplies to protect ourselves as we’re sacrificing a lot & we should at the very least get protection. Instead, when we asked for all this we were told to either go home or
— Dr. Jigsaw (@itrollmuggles) March 21, 2020
As per a meeting conducted by the textile ministry, India requires almost 7.25 lakh body overalls, 60 lakh N-95 masks and 1 crore 3-ply masks. However, an increase in demand for these items has led to a shortage in the market.
Health workers from across the country explained the need and importance of essential protective gear and medical equipment:
https://twitter.com/unkittenish/status/1241345990918983686
https://twitter.com/CoronaVirusTN_/status/1241987978819338240
https://twitter.com/MhaskarChief/status/1241067771003203584
Today, we spent hours figuring out how to re-structure healthcare facility in our hospital. Which wards and how many beds do we assign for #COVIDー19 patients? How many ICU beds? 1/3 of hospital beds and half the ICU beds. Someone said. The numbers send a shudder down the spine.
— SP Kalantri (@spkalantri) March 21, 2020
https://twitter.com/MANPREET_BAMRAH/status/1241332949150101504
Many citizens also requested PM Modi to arrange for adequate safety equipments for medical professionals:
https://twitter.com/KSreeniraok/status/1241941861280829440
Doctors are facing similar issues at almost all places.
We need to make sure that doctors and staff working 24*7 are adequately equipped to perform their duty.
Safety of our saviours is equally important.#protectourhealthworkers
@MoHFW_INDIA @drharshvardhan@coronavirus_in_ https://t.co/yWvkVuGDe5— Anshuman singh (@AnshumanUTD21) March 23, 2020
https://twitter.com/SurajPatil258/status/1241360203179679745
@drharshvardhan just wondering how are we ensuring safety of hundreds of doctors & medical staffs that are equally exposed to threat of #coronavirus & are being sent to camps that are regular in nature & not emergency. Requesting @MoHFW_INDIA & ur office to pls look into it.
— Ravi Budhwani (@Budhwani_Ravi24) March 16, 2020
According to the New York Times, doctors in the US are also concerned about the shortage of masks, as they are risking their lives to save people. We can only pray and hope medical workers stay healthy and they get appropriate safety gear soon.