Now a Covid facility, Hindu Rao Hospital employees still grapple with basic issues

Non-functional air conditioning in wards, an inadequate doffing area and the non-availability of N-95 masks for health care workers are some problems the medical

Non-functional air conditioning in wards, an inadequate doffing area and the non-availability of N-95 masks for health care workers are some problems the medical staff at the North Corporation-run Hindu Rao Hospital, which started operating as a Covid-19-dedicated facility on Saturday, are facing.

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Doctors and nurses said the emergency block that has been converted to a Covid-19 facility does not have functional ACs. They said wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) coveralls during 12-hour shifts, even with breaks, is suffocating and makes them dizzy.

“We had met the hospital authorities on Saturday and they said they would resolve the issues by the first week of July. At present, three or four doctors have been put on rotating duty and are somehow managing, but this cannot be sustained when the number of Covid-19 patients in the ward increases,” Dr Abhimanyu Sardana, a senior resident and the president of the hospital’s resident doctors association (RDA), said.

On Monday, the hospital had six Covid-19 patients, of which one is admitted to the ICU. The hospital, one of the biggest under the North Corporation, started operations with 50 beds for Covid-19 patients on Saturday, instead of the 200 announced on June 14 when the hospital was declared a Covid-dedicated facility.

North Corporation mayor Jai Prakash, along with other officials, inspected the facility on Monday. “At present, we have logistics in place for 50 beds, so we started the process of admitting Covid-19 patients. Beds will be added in phases of 50 each and the number will go up to 200. We have decided to provide at least 50 beds with ventilator support. Right now, the hospital has 17 ventilators. We have roped in agencies under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiativeto provide us with ventilators to take the total number up to at least 50,” he said.

The mayor said they were aware of the problems the staff was facing and had ordered 48 new air-conditioners while the old ones were being repaired. “We will install the new ACs by the first week of July,” he said.

The staff on duty said that besides the doffing area for PPE kits not being adequate, health care workers in green and orange zones of the hospital such as corridors, nursing stations and the resting area have not been provided with N-95 masks, which is a must. This has caused a fear of infection among the staff.

“The doffing area must be close to the Covid-19 ward so that the staff exiting the red zone can dump their kits without having to cross over to other areas. At present, we have to walk through the corridor to dump the kits. This could increase the chances of infection spreading to the orange and green zones,” a senior resident, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said.

On Sunday, a 53-year-old housekeeping staff member of the hospital, Raju Singh Sonwal, died of Covid-19—the first Covid-19 death at the hospital after it was declared a Covid-19-only facility.

So far, the hospital has reported two Covid-19 deaths. On June 19, a 56-year-old lab technician posted at the pathology lab here had succumbed to the virus. At least 76 staffers, including doctors, nurses, safai karmcharis and paramedics, have tested positive for Covid-19 at the hospital between April 25 and June 28.

“There are issues with the dumping of PPE kits. Even when there were suspected patients in the isolation wards, there were similar issues and several staffers ended up testing positive. There is fear and anxiety of contracting the infection among the workers in such circumstances,” a nursing officer, who did not wish to be named, said.

Reacting to this, Prakash said they have tied up with an NGO for providing their staff with around 1,000 N-95 masks. “The masks will reach the staff in a day or two,” he said, adding, “Also, we will be helping the family of Raju, who died fighting Covid-19, by appointing one of his children to the job so that the family is taken care of.”

A senior North Corporation official, explaining the challenges in setting up of beds and doffing areas, said, “When we talk of a bed, it implies that other services such as specialist doctors, staff nurses, monitors, oxygen supply points, etc. too need to be made available for each of the Covid-only beds. Structural requirements such as separate donning-doffing areas, entry-exit points, dedicated operation theatres, etc. need to be created. To separate the Covid-19 area from the other buildings, we have started operations with 45 beds, five ICU beds and 84 isolation beds. We plan to add more as and when logistics and financial requirements are met.”