Railway hospital faces shortage of masks, sanitisers

Hospital staffers claim senior official with Covid-19 symptoms was admitted without isolation

Employees of the Railway Hospital at Lalaguda said the institution is facing a severe shortage of safety equipment. Several staffers told Deccan Chronicle that they have been asking the management to arrange for supplies for a month but they have been ignored so far.

A nurse, on the condition of anonymity, said the hospital was seeing a steady stream of patients who were suspected of having Covid-19.

“But the management is not taking any precautions. While dealing with such patients, attenders and nurses are not being given personal protective equipment (PPE) kits or even masks. We are risking our lives here,” he said. According to the hospital’s log book, at least six railway employees have visited the hospital after tracing their contact to a Covid-19 positive patient. They have all been sent home for self-quarantine.

Another nurse, also on the condition of anonymity, said the hospital has no idea how to deal with such patients. “We are terrified for our lives while tending to these patients. Also, there is no screening at the main gates. Everyone is being allowed inside. There are rarely any RPF (Railway Protection Force) personnel to man the entrance,” he said.

The nurse said that there is a severe shortage of masks. “A few days ago, we were using two-ply masks. We have run out of them. Then we were given single layered masks. They, too, are over. Now, the management is telling us they will procure masks stitched from cotton,” he said.

The hospital reportedly also is short of sanitisers and sterilising solutions.

The first nurse said, “We are simply washing our hands with soap. Otherwise, we have been asked to use 100 per cent alcohol spirit. However, it damages the skin so we stay away from it,” he said.

A housekeeping staff, working on contract at the hospital, said their condition was even worse. “We have been given a mask and have been asked to use it for a week. They told us to rewash after every shift and keep it with ourselves,” he said.

The staffers are also spooked by the apparent VIP-culture around senior railway employees. Some of the suspect cases are trainees at the Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications (IRISET). A nurse said, “At least three of them were asked to stay at their home in Hyderabad, but they didn’t cooperate. They went back to their hometowns in north India.”

Hospital director Dr Srikanth Mahapatra, however, denied this allegation. He said the officers were still in Hyderabad and had quarantined themselves. Then there is the puzzling case of a senior Secunderabad division employee who is housed in the hospital. The nurses said that this official’s son had returned from overseas recently.

“After that, the official came here with fever symptoms. Instead of sending him to the Gandhi Hospotal, he is being kept in the hospital. He is not even in the newly-created isolation ward but a special officers’ ward. He might not be infected, but why is the management risking our lives on this assumption?” asked a nurse.

Interestingly, the log book entry of this officer notes that he was discharged on Sunday evening, but both the nurses and Dr Mahapatra said he was still in the hospital. He was discharged only on Thursday morning.

Dr Mahapatra responded to the staffers’ claims by saying that the hospital had secured medical supplies for the coming days. “Indeed, there was a shortage of masks and PPE kits, but we have taken care of it. We got one consignment on Monday and will get more over this week,” he said. On the Secunderabad division official, he said, “He is only here as a precaution. He is not being considered a suspect case. We have not broken any protocol. He added that he was confident of the hospital’s ability to cope with Covid-19.

ACCORDING TO the hospital’s log book, at least six railway employees have visited the hospital after tracing their contact to a Covid-19 positive patient. They have all been sent home for self-quarantine. THE HOSPITAL reportedly also is short of sanitisers and sterilising solutions. The first nurse said, “We are simply washing our hands with soap. Otherwise, we have been asked to use 100 per cent alcohol spirit”.