No safety gear, doctors at St George Hospital won’t treat OPD patients

MUMBAI: Doctors at governmentrun St George Hospital, P D’mello Road, refused to treat patients in the fever out-patientdepartment (OPD) on Thursday as the administration had not provided them with basic preventive gear like masks and gloves. This led to a tussle between patients and doctors in the ward.

Covid-19 and the common flu share similar symptoms like fever, cough, and cold. Due to growing awareness, hundreds of people with flu-like symptoms are flocking to hospitals for check-ups. Considering there might be possible Covid-19 patients at OPDS, the state health department has instructed government and civic-run hospitals to form a separate fever OPD. However, doctors at St George Hospital claimed they were not provided with protective gear like respirators and gloves to screen patients and could become vulnerable to the infection themselves.

“We are buying masks with our own money. We have been constantly asking the hospital to give us masks and gloves but they are not listening to us. This is the basic facility that the hospital can provide to medicos who are working from the frontline,” said a doctor from the hospital.

Against this backdrop, on Thursday, when doctors refused to screen them, angry patients who had been waiting in queues for hours, started arguing with the doctors on duty. “The number of patients visiting the fever OPD is increasing daily. On Thursday we got over 100 patients but there is no provision for protective kits,” said the doctor. Despite repeated calls, Dr Madhukar Gaikwad, medical superintendent of the hospital could not be reached.

MUMBAI: While the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) wholesale market started operations in phases on Thursday, traders complained that there was a shortage of labourers to unload goods at their warehouses.

Vishal Sethia, a wholesale trader of pulses, said that only three of the 19 labourers working at his godown reached the market on Thursday. “There is panic among their families. Some are restricted by police from coming to work, while most have left for their villages,” he said.

He added that opening the market is dangerous. “So many people come to the markets, where is the question of social distancing here?” said the trader. Another trader, Yuvraj Bhandari, who deals in rice and pulses at the market, said that none of the eight labourers working under him could reach to work. “Without labourers, we can’t run the shops. Even if 50% turn up by Monday, we can continue with the work, otherwise it is going to be very difficult to run the market,” he said.

“With transport shut, the labourers cannot come back from their villages. I did not open my shop today,” said Uman Sejpal, a wholesale trader.

Sejpal added that in the last 10 days, he would have done business akin to a month. “There is panic buying everywhere. However, there is no shortage of food supplies,” he said.

Last week, the traders had announced that the market will be shut from March 25 to 31. However, following a day-long discussion with authorities on Wednesday, it was decided to open the market in phases from Thursday.

Some are restricted by police from coming to work, while most have left for their villages. VISHAL SETHIA, trader