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Provide PPE and other safety equipment: MSNA writes to Sassoon management
I held a meeting with the staff of the hospital about the PPE kits, now a committee has been formed within the hospital which will check the kits, says Pune divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar
As the medical staff are at the forefront in the fight against Covid-19 (coronavirus) and tirelessly working to save patients affected due to Sar-Cov-virus nurses they struggling to get necessary safety equipment.
The Maharashtra State Nurses Association (MSNA) has written a letter to the Sassoon hospital management requesting to provide all necessary facilities and safety equipment for the doctors, nurses and cleanliness staff actually working at the Covid-19 patients’ ward.
Recently three nurses working at the Sassoon hospital tested positive and it is alleged by the association members that it was due to lack of good quality PPE kits given to them.
In the letter given by the MSNA dated on March 31 it was stated that, “While fighting against this deadly disease it is important to provide all the necessary safety equipment to doctors, nurses and cleanliness staff at the hospital working at Covid-19 patients ward. The safety of doctors and other medical staff is of utmost importance and our request to the hospital authorities is to take our responsibility and provide high quality PPE kits, masks, hard scrub and hand sanitizers.”
Since the operations began at the Sassoon Hospital, initially the working staff of nurses which included both male and female nurses were given residential accommodation within the hospital premises. Later on they were shifted to nearby two hotels in Mangalwar peth area.
“Initially the nurses were using the safety kits which are used for HIV Aids patients and that were not appropriate while working on the Covid-19 patient ward. All the three nurses who tested positive were the same who worked in the initial phase with these kits and now they are infected with the disease,” said one the members of the association who didn’t want to reveal his name.
“Similarly we are not even provided with healthy food. Our demand is the state government should look in to the matter and provide us with the necessities,” he said.
Pune divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar under whose authority the Sassoon Hospital administration comes said, “Today I held a meeting with the staff of Sassoon Hospital and we discussed on various issues. Especially about the PPE kits, now a committee has been formed within the hospital which will check the PPE kits which are donated or bought by the hospital from various sources. It should be according to the guidelines given by the ICMR and if not they will be rejected.”
“Apart from that about the issues which nurses are facing about food and residential problems at the hotel, I am personally monitoring it and have discussed it with the Pune district collector. Soon we are going to work on solutions on all these issues and address it,” he said.
37 of 44 deceased did not have any foreign travel history
