PGIMER modifies ‘on duty’ order for quarantined healthcare workers

The modified order stated that employees who came in contact with Covid positive employees and patients during the course of duty and are labelled as high risk and advised quarantine, for such period of quarantine may be treated as ‘on duty’

Modifying its earlier order for treating the quarantine period of the doctors and healthcare workers on Covid-19 duties as ‘on duty’, the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) has now ordered that any employee who had come in contact with Covid positive employees or patients during duty will also be treated ‘on duty’ if they are advised to quarantine.

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“Those employees who came in contact with Covid positive employees and patients during the course of duty and are labelled as high risk and advised quarantine, for such period of quarantine may be treated as ‘on duty’,” the modified order stated.

However, in such cases, the applicants should formally inform their controlling officer in writing and give supporting documents to show that they were directed to go into quarantine by the Hospital Infection Control team, epidemiologist of the institute, or in charge of the concerned Covid centre.

The earlier order in this regard stated that the doctors and healthcare workers on Covid-19 duties who undergo quarantine will be treated as on duty but didn’t specify anything about the employees not on COVID-19 duty.

Aswani Munjal, president, PGI employee union, said that it is a corrective step taken by the administration after their writing several requests to them.

“Employees whose relatives within the hospital had tested positive were reporting to duties majorly because of the lack of such measures by the institute. Now, if someone has close contact who has tested positive can undergo quarantine without worrying about the leaves,” he said.

The issue of ‘poor’ risk management had earlier brought the unions and the administration at loggerheads.