Delhi Has Highest Number Of COVID-19 Positive Nurses In India

Delhi Coronavirus Cases: Nurses highlighted improper accommodation and the poor quality of food.

As frontline workers in the battle against coronavirus continue to put their lives at risk, many have fallen victims to the infection. Delhi has the highest number nurses testing positive with 35 infected. Mumbai follows with 27 nurses affected. Apart from that, only Kerala reported case of a nurse testing positive.

Nursing staff across hospitals has been highlighting issues such as improper accommodation and the quality of food being given to them while they're on duty, staying away from their homes and families. They also demand that even the staff that is not treating coronavirus patients be given all protective equipment as many of those patients who get admitted for other diseases are turning out to be positive for coronavirus, but by then it's too late.

Most of these cases have emerged in hospitals where treatment for COVID-19 was not  taking place. The infection spread either through regular patients who were admitted for other medical issues but later tested positive for coronavirus or spread from a staff member who had come in contact with an infected person elsewhere. Delhi State Cancer Institute, which has the maximum number of affected nurses, with 18 of them infected, was not treating any COVID-19 patients. It all started with a doctor who tested positive after her brother and her sister-in-law returned from the UK. She had visited their house last month. 

At Delhi's Lady Hardinge Medical College, where six nurses have been infected, the spread coronavirus began after a 10-month-old was admitted to the paediatric ICU with respiratory issues. The child later tested positive for coronavirus.

Three nurses each at Kalawati Saran Children's Hospital and Maharaja Agrasen Hospital, two nurses at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital and one nurse each at Apollo Hospital, Max Hospital and Moolchand Hospital have tested positive for the highly contagious virus.

Nurses at a hospital in Delhi on condition of anonymity said, "We work at a regular hospital and not a COVID-19-dedicated one. So we are not given any preference. We want to get a proper accommodation here at the hospital itself. We don't want to go back home. We don't want to give this disease to our family. I have small kids at home. Instead of infecting them, it's best that we get infected and stay here only."

At LNJP Hospital, which has now been dedicated for COVID-19 treatment, nurses recently pointed out how they were being given a very small accommodation hall in the hospital.

In a video shared by the nurses with NDTV, a nurse can be seen showing the hall where single beds are placed next to each other. She describes, "10 to 15 people who live in this hall use a single toilet-cum-bathroom. There is neither a separate bathing area nor separate toilets." After the nurses protested, 100 rooms at five hotels in central Delhi's Karol Bagh and 72 rooms at the Gujarati Samaj in north Delhi's Civil Lines were allocated for the nurses by the Delhi government.

After staff at Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital recently voiced their concerns about the poor quality of food given to them, the authorities made changes from the next day.

In a video posted by the nurses on social media, a nurse can be seen showing the food and saying, "What we get in the morning as food is just two pieces of bread and a banana. Who would be able to quench their hunger by that? Nobody. And what we get as lunch is this dal and rice which is so cold that is seems it has been taken out of a freezer."

Nurses say that in order to prevent further cases of such infections the government should provide safety measures even for staff of regular medical wards.

LD Ramchandani, General Secretary of the Delhi Nurses Federation said, "We will have to use the same precautions everywhere. We need to have PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) kits, masks and all sanitisation measures just like the way we have them in all coronavirus units."

Though the Delhi government has been increasing facilities for healthcare workers across hospitals, for now, its top priority is the staff on duty in the coronavirus wards. 

With over 2,000 coronavirus cases, Delhi has the third-highest number of coronavirus cases in India after Maharashtra and Gujarat.